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Program Notes |
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by Mary Wolinski
Carl Orff's (1895-1982) choral masterpiece Carmina Burana takes its title and lyrics from the most important collection of secular Latin poetry of the twelfth century.
The title Carmina Burana, "Songs from Beuern," was given in the nineteenth century to the manuscript because it was discovered in the library of the Abbey of Benediktbeuern in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It probably originated in the region bordering Italy and Austria. The anonymous texts, written by church clerics, provide insight into daily life in the Middle Ages, for they comment on morality and politics, love, and the pursuits of drinkers, gamblers, and goliards, or wandering scholars. Some of the lyrics revert to the vernacular in German or French.
Orff, who was fascinated with Latin poetry and had already published choral settings of some of Catullus's Roman love poems, came upon an edition of the Carmina Burana in 1935. With the help of Michel Hofmann, he selected twenty-three of the original 226 poems for a work that he envisaged as a theatrical piece. It is subtitled: "Secular songs for singers and chorus, singing accompanied by instruments and magic images." Photos of the original stage setting show actors and singers dressed in courtly medieval costume. The choir stood on risers under medieval vaulted arcades on both sides of the stage. Lady Fortune sat atop her wheel in the rear center stage. The first performance took place in Frankfurt on June 8, 1937, under Hans Meissner, director of the Frankfurt Opera, as part of the annual Composers' Festival of the General German Musical Society. The work, with its folk-like melodies and rousing choruses, found great success in Germany during World War II and afterwards internationally, as well.
Orff's Carmina Burana consists of an Introduction, which is an invocation of Fortune, the Empress of the World, and three parts: I. In Springtime and On the Lawn, II. In the Tavern, and III. The Court of Love and Blanziflor and Helena. The work concludes with the opening chorus "O Fortuna." The appeal of the music lies in its great variety of style and mood. It ranges from chant-like to modernist ą la Stravinsky, and uses imitations of birdsong, folk styles, operatic arias, and baroque monody. The opening laments on the power of Fate give way to happy images of springtime and the pleasures of love and self-indulgence. Yet the circle comes full round, and all are reminded at the end of the relentless Wheel of Fortune.
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