Welcome back, everyone, to another installment at For the Love of Tunes. This entry will likely be slightly different as I’m not as familiar with the material as other entries on the blog. Before we get into the history and structure of the work, let me first say that there is literally something for everyone in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Whether you’re a musician or sitting in the audience, this towering work has much to offer. However, it is a little odd. Let me explain.

The work is a cantata based on a series of poems written in Latin, but the most famous is “O Fortuna.” Even if you think you don’t know it, you do. It’s been called “the most overused piece of music in film history.” Oddly enough, back in the 1970s, it was used in commercials for Old Spice in the UK, which led Harper’s Magazine columnist Scott Horton to comment that “Orff’s setting may have been spoiled by its popularization” and its use “in movies and commercials often as a jingle, detached in any meaningful way from its powerful message.” It’s not a ringing endorsement, to be sure, but it is a very powerful way to start and end an intriguing work that takes the listener through celebrations of Spring to a pub where swan is on the menu. You see what I mean? Oddsfish, my dear.

A Little History

As I do with every feature here on the blog, I like to start off by looking into the background of how a work came to be. I’ll start with the full Latin title of the work with the English translation: Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis (“Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magical images”). It rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it?

The cantata, which Orff, 24 at the time he started writing, composed between 1935 and 1936, is based on a series of twenty-four poems from the much larger collection of 254, comprising the Medieval text Carmina Burana—the original manuscripts date from the 11th through the 14th centuries. In 1847, the linguist Johann Andreas Schmeller acquired the first complete edition of the texts and gave the combined work the title we know it by today. In 1934, Carl Orff came into possession of a second-hand copy of the “Schmeller Edition,” and it was from this version that Carl Orff started working on his composition. In Orff’s own words, he “was attracted to the infectious rhythms and vividness… not least, the musicality and peculiar concision of the Latin language with its high density of vowels.” He wrote the music over the course of a few weeks, commenting, “The music was already in my head! So vivid was it, indeed, that I had no need for any written aid.”

A Breakdown of the composition (remember how I said it was a little odd…)

The music is divided into twenty-five sections, framed on either end by “O Fortuna,” a bracing invocation of Fate and Fortune that became a runaway hit in the 1970s after being used in TV ads for men’s aftershave (Old Spice, in this case). The Prologue, “Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi” (Fortune, Empress of the World) consists of “O Fortuna” (O Fortune), and “Fortune plango vulnera” (I Lament the Wounds that Fortune Deals). After the dramatic opener, the work is subdivided into three main sections celebrating springtime (“Primo vere” {In Spring} and its subsection “Uf dem anger” {On The Green}), tavern life (In Taberna), and finally, Love (“Cours d’amours”). The first three movements of Primo vere celebrate the arrival of Spring with splendid textural ingenuity, ranging from the ecclesiastical intonings of “Veris leta facies” (The Merry Face of Spring) to the outdoor exuberance of “Ecce gratum” (Behold, the Pleasant Spring), in which the chorus invites us to taste freely in the “joys of love.” An orchestral dance follows, wherein Orff constantly shifts the metrical emphasis, resulting in what some writers have called “a musical minefield for armchair conductors” (The Erie Phil doesn’t have one of those, so we’re safe). I’m not sure what an “armchair conductor” would be doing taking up Carmina in the first place, but you get the idea; it’s not for the faint of heart.

The secondary material’s distinctive scoring for flute and timpani recalls an old Bavarian tradition known as “Asfspielen,” which literally means “to play.” The music’s infectious rhythmic playfulness (using Orff’s own description from earlier) carries us into “Floret silva nobilis” (The Noble Woods are Burgeoning), evoking delight in the fast-emerging forest flowers and leaves. Next up, we come to the enchanting “Chramer, gip die varve mir” (Shopkeeper, Give me Color). This piece focuses on a playfully selective group of young maidens who attempt to draw the menfolk in by exhibiting their skills in the art of make-up. This sets up an exuberant sequence of dancing, climaxing in “Were die welt alle min” (If All the World Were Mine), an ecstatic invocation of the Queen of England. Although no specific ruler is mentioned in the original texts, the most likely candidate was Eleanor of Aquitaine, from the 12th century, who was heartbroken at being separated from her husband, King Henry II.

Now we move into Part II, In Taberna, which picks up where the first part leaves off. This section features an often riotous celebration of life’s more earthly indulgences. The baritone soloist launches into “Estuans interius” (Burning Inside), which is something of an outburst where the singer reasons that, as his soul is dead, “I shall look after the flesh.” Take from that what you will…

From here, Orff displays a somewhat unexpected surrealist tendency in “Olim lacus coleram” (Once I Lived on Lakes), in which the falsetto voice of a swan is heard as it roasts rotating on a spit over an open fire (I don’t envy the singer(s) who have to portray such a thing). Next up is “Ego sum abbas Cucaniensis” (I am the Abbot of Cloud-Cuckoo Land”). Here, we find a cleric, reveling in the “joys of inebriation,” a point of view that the chorus endorses in “In taberna quando sumus” (When We Are in the Tavern), which advocates “the merry oblivion of drinking to excess.” What a way to wrap up Part II…

We move now into Part III, which turns the listener to “affairs of the heart.” The musical atmosphere (with one or two notable exceptions) becomes generally less volatile (crazy, unhinged, just plain strange). Nowhere is the inspired simplicity of Orff’s musical thinking more poignant than in “Amor volat unique” (Cupid Flies Everywhere), with its ravishing pedal-pointed harmonies. The pain of unrequited love is exquisitely evoked in “Dies, Nox et Omina” (Day, Night and Everything is Against Me), and rarely has flawless beauty been so magically distilled as in “Stetit puella” (There Stood a Girl), with its striking vision of a young maiden dressed in a red tunic. This selection is sung by the soprano soloist. The remaining sections, “Si puer cum puellula” (If a Boy with a Girl) spare no blushes in its depiction of more, whereas the surpassingly radiant “In trutina” (In the Balance) captures the frisson experienced between love idealised and love realized. We finally arrive at the bookend performance of “O Fortuna,” which brings the wheel full circle, a musical metaphor for the wheel of fortune emblazoned on the front cover of the 1847 edition of Carmina Burana that had originally inspired stirring musical masterpiece into being.

The full list of titles (I found slight differences in translation, thence the list for reference)

	Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi		Fortune, Empress of the World
1	O Fortuna	Latin	O Fortune	choir
2	Fortune plango vulnera	Latin	I lament the wounds that Fortune deals	choir
I	Primo vere		In Spring
3	Veris leta facies	Latin	The joyous face of Spring	small choir
4	Omnia Sol temperat	Latin	All things are tempered by the Sun	baritone
5	Ecce gratum	Latin	Behold the welcome	choir
	Uf dem anger		In the Meadow
6	Tanz		Dance	instrumental
7	Floret silva nobilis	Latin / Middle High German	The noble woods are burgeoning	choir
8	Chramer, gip die varwe mir	Middle High German	Monger, give me coloured paint	2 choirs (small and large)
9	(a) Reie		Round dance	instrumental
	(b) Swaz hie gat umbe	Middle High German	They who here go dancing around	choir
	(c) Chume, chum, geselle min	Middle High German	Come, come, my dear companion	small choir
	(d) Swaz hie gat umbe (reprise)	Middle High German	They who here go dancing around	choir
10	Were diu werlt alle min	Middle High German	If the whole world were but mine	choir
II	In Taberna		In the Tavern
11	Estuans interius	Latin	Seething inside	baritone
12	Olim lacus colueram	Latin	Once I swam in lakes	tenor, choir (male)
13	Ego sum abbas	Latin	I am the abbot (of Cockaigne)	baritone, choir (male)
14	In taberna quando sumus	Latin	When we are in the tavern	choir (male)
III	Cour d’amours		Court of Love
15	Amor volat undique	Latin	Love flies everywhere	soprano, boys’ choir
16	Dies, nox et omnia	Latin / Old French	Day, night and everything	baritone
17	Stetit puella	Latin	There stood a girl	soprano
18	Circa mea pectora	Latin / Middle High German	In my breast	baritone, choir
19	Si puer cum puellula	Latin	If a boy with a girl	3 tenors, 1 baritone, 2 basses
20	Veni, veni, venias	Latin	Come, come, pray come	double choir
21	In trutina	Latin	On the scales	soprano
22	Tempus est iocundum	Latin	Time to jest	soprano, baritone, choir, boys’ choir
23	Dulcissime	Latin	Sweetest boy	soprano
	Blanziflor et Helena		Blancheflour and Helen
24	Ave formosissima	Latin	Hail to the most lovely	choir
	Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi		Fortune, Empress of the World
25	O Fortuna (reprise)	Latin	O Fortune	choir

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Burana_(Orff)

I feel like we should all take a break after that, and I can only imagine what this will be like in person when the Erie Philharmonic brings the work to life on May 11th, 2024, at the Warner Theater. Tickets are still available, and this work is another one of those pieces that isn’t performed often. It should run about an hour or so in performance.

Woodwinds 3 flutes (second and third doubling first and second piccolos), 3 oboes (third doubling English horn), 3 clarinets in B♭ and A (second doubling bass clarinet, third doubling sopranino clarinet in E♭), 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon Brass 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in B♭ and C, 2 trombones, 1 bass trombone, 1 tuba

Percussion 5 timpani, 2 snare drums, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, suspended cymbal, antique cymbals, ratchet castanets, tambourine, sleigh bells, tam-tam, tubular bells, 3 bells, 3 glockenspiels, gong, xylophone

Keyboards 2 pianos, 1 celesta Voice 2 SATB mixed choirs (one large and one small, although a subset of the large chorus may be used for the small chorus), 1 boys’ choir, soprano soloist, tenor soloist, baritone soloist Strings violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, double basses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Burana_(Orff)

Premiere and Reception

Carl Orff’s new work had its premiere in Frankfurt, Germany, on the 8th of June, 1937. Due to the nature of the work, it was staged by the Oper Frankfurt under conductor Bertil Wetzelsberger with the Cacilienchor Frankfurt, and staging by Oskar Walterlin. The sets and costumes were handled by Ludwig Sievert. The premiere itself was greatly successful by all accounts, and Orff wrote his publisher, Schott Music, “Everything I have written to date, which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin.”

One note to be made about the music itself is that while Orff was well-versed in liturgical and folk music, he didn’t do anything to recreate or evoke a Medieval sound in the score. The emphasis in Carmina Burana was instead on rhythm and meter (and the frequent changes to both). According to the composer, “Carmina Burana has no real development of musical ideas,” but instead, he relied upon the repetition of various elements for dramatic effect. He also drew inspiration from the works of Igor Stravinsky, particularly the 1924 composition Les Noces (The Wedding). However, Stravinsky regarded Orff’s music as “Neo-Neanderthal” (ouch).

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the time period during which this work was composed and premiered. Much like composers in Russia under Stalin, Orff was still subject to the whims of his political overlords, the Third Reich. While he never joined the party, he was still a member of the government’s official cultural branch, the Reich Chamber of Music. It’s unfortunate how political influence can impact artistic expression, and Orff’s connections to the Third Reich are still being explored to this day.

Recordings

Beyond “O Fortuna,” I did not explore Carmina thoroughly until I started doing research for this article. Of the recordings I’ve listened to thus far, one jumped out at me, and it was one in which Carl Orff was present during the recording sessions. After the recording was complete, he gave this one his stamp of approval.

Another interesting entry is by Andre Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with the St Clement Danes Grammar School Boys’ Choir. One of the most notable aspects of the recording is the tempo. Previn takes things a little more slowly, particularly “O Fortuna,” and the result is a clearer reading of the lyrics themselves.

I also listened to excerpts from a recording conducted by Christian Thielemann with the Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin and The Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin. From what I’ve read of this recording, Thielemann took his cues from the first recording I listed, and the same orchestra and chorus were used in this 1999 rendition.

This final entry is not a recording of the work itself but a clip from an Andre Rieu concert where he was celebrating the 25th anniversary of his orchestra, The Johann Strauss Orchestra. The performance is an electrifying cross between a classical and rock concert, complete with artificial fog, lasers, and fireworks! I hope you enjoy.

Conclusion

I readily admit that a work like Carmina is not my usual fare, which I think shows in this article. Regardless, when the Erie Philharmonic, Erie Philharmonic Chorus, and the Erie Philharmonic Youth Chorale perform this work in a couple of weeks, I intend to enjoy the performance of so many musicians on stage and ignore some of the more unseemly aspects of Medieval poetry (set to music) that don’t translate well into the modern age. Judge for yourself, dear reader, and I hope to see you next time here at For the Love of Tunes.

https://www.eriephil.org/calendar/carmina