Show #176 - Carmina Burana

Spring may have started a month ago, but it actually feels like it outside these days here in Madison. This being the case, what better way to welcome the change of season than with songs about verdant meadows, tawdry sex, and drinking? Well thanks to Carl Orff, we have Carmina Burana.


(Photo found here.)

Orff wrote Carmina Burana in the mid-1930s after encountering the original which was a collection of 320 poems written in the early 13th century and found at the monastery of Benediktbeuern in 1803. The poems were mostly written in Latin, with some in medieval German and French. A variety of themes are found in the work including religious and moralizing but Orff mostly chose the fun ones – those celebrating spring, love, drinking/tavern life, and the like.

For his work, Orff chose 24 of the poems and adapted them for his music which requires an orchestra and more choir members than you can shake a stick at. "O Fortuna" famously bookends the piece for 25 sections total. Even if you've never listened to Carmina Burana, you've no doubt heard "O Fortuna" with its lament of the fickleness of fortune. It's been in movies and in commercial; sampled and reworked for soundtracks. The song is imbedded in our popular culture.

Here are a couple pages (from the Athena Review) of the medieval text. Notice how fate takes a turn and the king is ground under its wheel.




Today's show was recorded on 28 April 2006 at Griffin Concert Hall, Colorado State University. (It was actually recorded by an audience member named Bob. Thanks Bob!) Here are the performers:

Colorado State University Symphony
Colorado State University combined Choruses
Teens In Harmony Chorus
Cynthia Vaughn, Soprano
Todd Queen, Tenor
Lynn Dixon, Baritone

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Carl Orff

Thanks to UCTV and YouTube, here's Carmina Burana in its entirety by folks from Univ. of California-Davis.