What does carmina burana mean. Chaotic notes of a neurotic

Text

Orff's work is based on twenty-four poems from a collection of medieval poetry called Carmina Burana. The name Carmina Burana means "Songs of Boyern" in Latin. This is due to the fact that the original manuscript of the collection (“Codex Buranus”) was found in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery of Beuern (Beuern, lat. Buranum; now Benediktbeuern, Bavaria).

Carl Orff first encountered these texts in John Eddington Symond's 1884 publication Wine, Women and Songs, which contained English translations of 46 poems from the collection. Michel Hoffmann, a law student and enthusiast for the study of Greek and Latin, assisted Orff in selecting 24 poems and compiling a libretto from them.

This libretto includes verses in both Latin and Middle High German. It covers a wide range of secular topics relevant both in the 13th century and in our time: the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the transience of life, the joy of the return of spring and the pleasure of drunkenness, gluttony, gambling and carnal love.

Orchestration

vocals

The vocal part is performed:

soloists (soprano, tenor and baritone),
- additional short solos: 3 tenors, baritone and 2 basses;
mixed choir (first, or "big" choir);
chamber choir (second, or "small" choir);
children's choir or boys' choir.

Instruments

woodwinds:

crotali,

crash cymbal,

hanging plate,

Structure

Carmina Burana consists of five main movements, each containing several separate musical acts:

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi ("Fortune is the mistress of the world")
Primo vere ("In early spring") - includes an interior scene Ûf dem Anger ("On the stage", "in the meadow" - possibly a quote from Walther von Vogelweide's gnomic song "Ûf dem anger stuont ein boum")
In taberna ("In a tavern")
Cours d'amour ("Love gossip", "courts of love", literally "Court of love" - medieval pastimes of the nobility, special courts for resolving love disputes)
Blanziflour et Helena (“Blanchefleur and Helena”; Blanchefleur is a character in a Spanish fairy tale, the daughter of a demon, according to another version, an elven queen, or maybe Blancheflor in a poem similar in plot to Conrad Fleck, like Helena of Troy, abducted from her kingdom by her lover)

№	Latin name	Russian name	Comment
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi
1.	About Fortuna	Oh Fortune!	The number begins with an orchestral and choral "fortissimo", ending at the end of the third phrase with a delay on a long note. The rest of the first verse and the entire second, on the contrary, are performed in the quietest nuance; at this time, the choir pronounces the words almost in a recitative. The third verse is played at a faster tempo at maximum volume.
2.	Fortune plango vulnera	I mourn the wounds inflicted by fate	Consists of three couplets. The chorus and the first refrain of each of the verses are performed by the male choir, the second refrain - by the general
I. Primo Vere
3.	Veris leta facies	Spring Spell	The number consists of three verses. In each of them, the first two phrases are performed by basses and altos, the second two, followed by a long note during an orchestral loss - tenor and soprano
4.	Omnia sol temperat	The sun warms everything	baritone solo
5.	Ecce gratum	Look how nice she is	Each of the three verses begins the tenor part, which is joined by the rest of the choir in the repetition of the phrase.
Uf dem Anger
6.	Tanz	Dance	Instrument number
7.	Floret Silva	The forest is blooming	The first part of the number sounds in Latin, in the second verse the text begins in Middle High German
8.	Chramer, gip die varwe mir	Give me paint, trader	Text in Middle High German sung only by the female part of the choir
9.	Reie Swaz hie gat umbe Chum, chum, geselle min Swaz hie gat umbe	round dance Look at me young man Come, come, my dear Look at me young man	A short instrumental movement precedes the dance scene, the first and third impetuous parts of which are the same and contrast with the unhurried middle part.
10.	Were diu werlt alle min	If the whole world was mine	Unison of the entire choir. The number completes the "German" block
II. In Taberna
11.	Estuans interius	"Burning Within"	baritone solo
12.	Olim lacus colueram	I used to live in a lake...	Tenor solo; the chorus is played by a male choir. Also known as "Song of the Roasted Swan", as the narration in this issue is from the point of view of the swan while it is being cooked and served on the table.
13.	Ego sum abbas	I am the pastor	Baritone solo. The male choir comments on the soloist's recitative with short shouts
14.	In taberna quando sumus	Sitting in a tavern	Performed by male choir only
III. Courses d'Amour
15.	Amor volat undique	Love flies everywhere	Soprano solo accompanied by the boys' choir
16.	Dies, nox and omnia	Day, night and everything I hate	baritone solo
17.	Stetit puella	There was a girl	soprano solo
18.	Circa mea pectora	In my chest	Each of the three verses begins with a baritone solo, the first line is repeated by the male choir, then the female choir enters.
19.	Si puer cum puellula	If a boy and a girl...	Performed a cappella by a male choir consisting of 3 tenors, a baritone and 2 basses
20.	Veni, veni, venias	Come, come, oh, come	The number begins with the roll call of the female and male choirs, then the whole choir is divided into two; part of the second (small) choir consists of one repeated word nazaza inserted between the replicas of the first (large) choir
21.	In trutina	On the scales	soprano solo
22.	Tempus est iocundum	Time is nice	The number consists of five verses: in the first, the entire choir sounds, in the second and fourth - only the female group, in the third - only the male group. In the first and third parts the solo is led by a baritone, in the second and fourth - by a soprano accompanied by a boys' choir. The fifth verse is performed by the entire choir and all soloists.
23.	Dulcissime	My most tender	soprano solo
Blanziflor et Helena
24.	Ave formosissima	Hello, beautiful one!	Performed by all choir and all soloists
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi
25.	About Fortuna	Oh Fortune!	Exact repetition of the first number

The compositional structure is largely based on the idea of spinning the Wheel of Fortune. The drawing of the wheel was found on the front page of the Burana Codex. It also contained four phrases written on the rim of the wheel: Regnabo, Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno ("I will reign, I reign, I reigned, I am without a kingdom").

During each scene, and sometimes during one action, the Wheel of Fortune turns, happiness turns into sadness, and hope gives way to grief. O Fortuna, the first poem edited by Schmeller, completes the circle, forming the framework of the composition of the work.

Notable entries

1968 - conductor Eugen Jochum; soloists: Gundula Janowitz, Gerhard Stolze, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; choir and orchestra of the Berlin State Opera (choirmaster - Walter Hagen-Grol), the Schöneberger Boys Choir (choirmaster - Gerald Helwig).
1969 - conductor Seiji Ozawa; soloists: Evelyn Mandak, Stanley Kolk, Sherrill Milnes; Boston Symphony Orchestra.
1973 - conductor Kurt Eichhorn; soloists: Lucia Popp, Jon van Kesteren, Hermann Prey; Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio.
1981 - conductor Robert Shaw; soloists: Håkan Hagegaard, Judith Blegen, William Brown; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Choir.
1989 - conductor Franz Welser-Möst; soloists: Barbara Hendricks, Michael Chance, Geoffrey Black; London Philharmonic Orchestra.
1995 - conductor Michel Plasson; soloists: Natalie Dessay, Gerard Len, Thomas Hampson; orchestra of the Capitol of the city of Toulouse.
1996 - conductor Ernst Hinrainer; soloists Gerda Hartmann, Richard Bruner, Rudolf Knoll; orchestra and choir of the Salzburg Mozarteum.
2005 - conductor Simon Rettle; soloists: Sally Matthews, Laurence Brownlie, Christian Gerhacher; Berlin Radio Chorus Rundfunkchor Berlin ) and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Influence

Notes

Literature

Michael Steinberg. Carl Orff: Carmina Burana // Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, 230-242.
Jonathan Babcock. Carl Orff's Carmina Burana: A Fresh Approach to the Work's Performance Practice // Choral Journal 45, no. 11 (May 2006): 26-40.

Links

Carmina Burana Web site about the cantata Carmina Burana
- Carmina Burana in format

The source of the texts of this work was a medieval manuscript found at the beginning of the 19th century in a Benedictine monastery in the Bavarian Alps.

The composer left untouched the original text of a manuscript poetry collection of the 13th century, which includes more than 250 texts in medieval Latin, Old German and Old French. He chose 24 poems about the volatility of fate, spring nature and love, drinking and satirical songs, as well as several hymn stanzas. All the poems were composed by vagants, wandering medieval poets who sang of earthly joys, glorified love, wine and ancient gods, ridiculed sanctimonious church morality.

Orff defined the genre of his work as "Secular songs for singers and choirs, accompanied by instruments with performance on stage." However, the stage performance does not imply a consistent development of the plot. Unlike The Catulli Carmine, The Carmina Burana is not a plot drama, but a static theater of living pictures.

The performing apparatus of the cantata is distinguished by its grandiose scope: a triple composition of a symphony orchestra with two pianos and an enlarged percussion group, a large mixed choir and a boys' choir, solo singers (soprano, tenor, baritone) and dancers.

The composition is based on an allegory of the wheel of Fortune, the goddess of fate. In medieval morality (moralistic theatrical performances), the wheel of Fortune personified the frailty of everything earthly, the fragility of human happiness. The choral prologue of Orff's cantata "Fortune, Lady of the World" is repeated unchanged at the end of the work (No. 25, epilogue), which, obviously, symbolizes a full turn of the wheel. Between the prologue and the epilogue are three parts of the cantata: "In the spring", "In the tavern" and "Love joys".

AT Prologue- two related in mood and expressive means of the choir. Their music and lyrics are harsh, they embody the inevitability of rock. The initial four-bar - dimensional, heavy chords of the choir and orchestra on the ostinato bass - is built on the revolutions of the Phrygian tetrachord. This is not only the epigraph of the entire composition, but also its main intonational grain, which then sprouts in many other numbers. Typical features of Orff's mature style are concentrated here: ostinato rhythm, repetition of melodic chants, reliance on diatonic, chords of a second-quarter structure, interpretation of the piano as a percussion instrument, use of a simple strophic form. The form of strophic song dominates in the vast majority of cantata numbers. The exception is No. 9 - "Round dance". It is written in three-movement form with an independent orchestral introduction. Themes-melodies, following one after another, form a whole "wreath" of choral songs.

Using techniques associated with ancient folk spells, the composer achieves a bewitching power of emotional impact.

The first part - "Spring" - consists of two sections: Nos. 3-7 and Nos. 8-10 ("In the Meadow"). Here landscapes, dances, round dances replace each other.In the music, one can clearly feel the reliance on the Bavarian folk dance origins.She draws the awakening of nature, love yearning and contrasts sharply with the prologue. At the same time, in choirs No. 3 (“Spring is coming”) and No. 5 (“Here is the long-awaited spring”), a melodic turn of the Phrygian mode, akin to the Prologue, is heard. Orchestration is typical for Orff: noteworthy is the absence of strings with a high value of percussion and celesta (No. 3), bells, sonority (No. 5).

Second part - « In the tavern" (Nos. 11-14) - brightly contrasts with the extreme ones surrounding it.This is a picture of the free life of reckless vagants,not thinking about the salvation of the soul, but delighting the flesh with wine and gambling.The techniques of parody and grotesque, the absence of female voices, the use of only minor keys make this movement related to the prologue. The variant of the descending Phrygian tetrachord-epigraph approaches here with the medieval sequence "Diesirae».

No. 12 - “The Lament of the Roasted Swan” is distinguished by frank parody: “Once I lived on the lake and was a beautiful white swan. Poor, poor! Now I'm black, very fried." The melody entrusted to the tenor-altino is based on the genre features of the lament itself, but the grace notes betray its mocking irony.

The parodic lamentation is followed by an equally parodic sermon - No. 13, "I am an abbot." The monotonous recitation of the baritone in the spirit of the church psalmody is accompanied by "screams" of the choir with cries of "guard!".

The third part - "Love joys" - the brightest and most enthusiastic in the whole work. In sharp contrast to the previous part, it echoes the first - both in mood and in structure. It has two sections; in the second section(Nos. 18-24) tender lyrics are replaced by more stormy and frank love outpourings.

The third part is built on a contrasting alternation of extended choral numbers with sonorous accompaniment (with the constant participation of percussion and piano) and brief solos and ensembles - a cappellaor with chamber accompaniment (without piano and percussion). The vocal colors become more diverse: the unison boys choir (No. 15 - "Cupid flies everywhere"), a transparent soprano solo doubled by a piccolo flute, against the background of empty fifths of the celesta and strings (No. 17 - "There was a girl"), an ensemble of male voices without an instrumental support (No. 19 - "If the guy is with the girl").

From the refined and refined lyrics of the first numbers, the figurative development in rushes to the enthusiastic hymn of all-embracing love in No. 24, “Glory, most beautiful!”. According to the text, this is a hymn to the famous beauties - Elena (the ancient ideal of beauty) and Blanchefleur (the heroine of medieval chivalric novels). However, solemn praise with chimes is suddenly interrupted by the return of the harsh music of the first choir"Oh Fortune, you are changeable like the moon.

Schematically, the composition of the cantata looks like this:

Prologue
	O Fortune, you are as changeable as the moon I mourn the wounds inflicted on me by fate		Fort un plango vulnera
I part - "Spring" (« Primovere»)
	Spring is coming Everything is warmed by the sun Here is the long-awaited spring Dance The forests are blooming	Veris leta facies Omnia Sol temperat Ecce gratum Floret Silva		baritone solo
2- th section - "In the meadow"
	Give me paint, trader Round dance / Those who go round and round If the whole world was mine	Chramer, gip die varve mir Reie/Swaz hie gat umbe Were diu werlt alle min		soprano solo
II part - "In the tavern" (« Intaberna»)
	Burning inside Roasted Swan Cry I am the abbot Sitting in a tavern	Estuans interius Olim lacus colueram In taberna quando sumus		baritone solo tenor solo baritone solo
III part - "Love Pleasures" (« Courd amours»)
	Cupid flies everywhere Day, night and the whole world There was a girl		Amor volat undique Dies, nox and omnia	boys choir baritone solo soprano solo
2- th section
	in my chest If a guy with a girl Come on, come on On the wrong scales of my soul Time is nice my most tender Hail, most beautiful!		Circa mea pectora Si puer cum puellula Veni, veni, venias Tempus est iocundum Ave formosissima!	baritone solo and choir male sextet 2 choirs calling to each other soprano solo double choir with soloists soprano solo the whole composition performers
№ 25	Oh Fortune

latin carmina means songs, Burana- geographical designation. So translated into Latin sounds the name of the place where the monastery is located. In the old Bavarian dialect - Boyern.

« Songs of Catullus, stage plays » (1942) - Orff's second stage cantata. Her idea arose under the impression of a visit in July 1930 to the Sirmione peninsula near Verona. Here stood the villa of the ancient Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus, famous for his love lyrics. In "Catulli kartmina" there is a consistently developing plot. This is the eternal story of a deceived lover, a windy beauty and an insidious friend.

On the cover of an old manuscript, Orff’s attention was immediately attracted by the image of the wheel of Fortune, in the center of which is the goddess of fortune herself, and along the edges are 4 human figures with Latin inscriptions: “I will reign”, “I reign”, “I reigned”, "I am without a kingdom."

Cast: soprano, tenor, baritone, luminaries of the choir (2 tenors, baritone, 2 basses), large choir, chamber choir, boys' choir, orchestra.

History of creation

In 1934, Orff accidentally came across a catalog of Würzburg antiques. In it he came across the title "Carmina Burana, Latin and German songs and poems from a 13th-century Benedict-Boyern manuscript, published by J. A. Schmeller." This untitled manuscript, compiled around 1300, was in Munich, in the royal court library, which was kept in the middle of the 19th century by Johann Andreas Schmeller. He published it in 1847, giving the Latin name Carmina Burana, meaning "Boyern songs" after the place of discovery in the early 19th century in a Benedictine monastery in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps. The book was very popular and went through 4 editions in less than 60 years.

The title "captured my attention with magical force," Orff recalled. On the first page of the book was placed a miniature depicting the wheel of Fortune, in the center of it - the goddess of luck, and on the edges of four human figures with Latin inscriptions. A man at the top with a scepter crowned with a crown - "I reign"; on the right, hurrying after the fallen crown, - "reigned"; stretched out below - "I am without a kingdom"; on the left, climbing up, - "I will reign." And the first was a Latin poem about Fortune, changeable like the moon:

Fortune's wheel will not tire of turning:
I will be cast down from the heights, humiliated;
meanwhile the other will rise, rise,
ascended to the heights by the same wheel.

Orff immediately imagines a new work - a stage work, with a constant change of bright contrasting paintings, with a singing and dancing choir. And that same night, he sketched the chorus “I mourn the wounds inflicted on me by Fortune”, which then became No. 2, and the next, Easter, sketched another chorus - “Dear Desired Spring” (No. 5). The composition of the music went very quickly, taking only a few weeks, and by the beginning of June 1934, Carmina Burana was ready. The composer played it on the piano to his publishers, and they were delighted with the music. However, work on the score was completed only 2 years later, in August 1936.

Orff offered to perform the cantata at the Berlin Music Festival the following year, but withdrew his offer after learning of the "destroying verdict of the highest authorities." Perhaps among these authorities was the famous German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, whose statement was repeated everywhere: “If this is music, then I don’t know what music is at all!” But most likely it was the high ranks of the Nazi Party, who found more and more reasons to ban the cantata. Finally, the head of the opera house in Frankfurt am Main obtained permission, and on June 8, 1937, the premiere took place in stage design. The success was extraordinary, but Orff called the victory Pyrrhic, because 4 days later, a commission of important Nazi officials, having visited the performance, declared the cantata an "undesirable work." And for 3 years it was not staged in any other city in Germany.

The medieval collection Carmina Burana contains more than 250 texts. Their authors are famous poets and fugitive monks, students and scholars who wandered from city to city, from country to country (in Latin they were called vagants) and wrote in various languages - medieval Latin, old German, old French. Orff considered their use as a means to "evoke the soul of the old worlds, the language of which was an expression of their spiritual content"; he was especially excited by the "exciting rhythm and picturesqueness of the verses, the melodious and unique brevity of Latin." The composer selected 24 texts of different lengths - from one line to several stanzas, different in genre and content. Spring round dances, songs about love - sublime, bashful and frankly sensual, drinking songs, satirical, philosophical and free-thinking make up a prologue called "Fortune - the mistress of the world" and 3 parts: "In early spring", "In a tavern", "Court of love" .

Music

"Carmina Burana" is Orff's most popular work, which he considered the beginning of his creative path: "Everything that I have written so far, and you, unfortunately, have published," the composer told the publisher, "can be destroyed. My collected works begin with Carmina Burana. The author's definition of the genre (in Latin) is typical of Orff: secular songs for singers and choir, accompanied by instruments, with performance on stage.

The chorus of the prologue "On Fortune" contains the musical grain of the entire cantata with the composer's characteristic melody, harmony, texture - archaic and bewitching - and embodies the main idea - about the omnipotence of fate:

Oh fortune,
Your moon face
Forever changing:
arrives,
Decreases
The day is not saved.
Then you are evil
That good
whimsical will;
And the nobles
And worthless
You change share.

The light scene "In the meadow" (No. 6-10), which concludes the 1st part, depicts the spring awakening of nature and love feelings; the music is permeated with the freshness of folk song and dance turns. A sharp contrast is formed by No. 11, which opens the shortest 2nd part, - a large baritone solo "Flaming from the inside" to the text of a fragment of "Confession" by the famous vagant Archipite of Cologne:

Let me die in the tavern
but on the deathbed
over the schoolboy poet
have mercy, oh God!

This is a multifaceted parody: on dying repentance (with turns of the medieval tune Dies irae - Day of Wrath, Last Judgment), on a heroic opera aria (with high notes and a marching rhythm). No. 12, tenor-altino solo with male choir "Lament of the Roasted Swan" - another parody of funeral laments. No. 14, "When we sit in a tavern" - the culmination of revelry; the endless repetition of one or two notes is born of repetitions in the text (during 16 measures, the Latin verb bibet is used 28 times - drinks):

The people drink, male and female,
urban and rural,
fools and wise drink
spenders and misers drink,

Drinking nun and whore
a hundred-year-old woman drinks,
a hundred-year-old grandfather drinks, -
in a word, drinks the whole wide world!

Directly opposite in mood is the 3rd part, bright and enthusiastic. 2 soprano solos: No. 21, "On the Unfaithful Scales of My Soul", sounding entirely pianissimo, and No. 23, "My Beloved" - a free cadenza with almost no accompaniment, with extremely high notes, are torn in a double choir with soloists (No. 22) "Coming pleasant time”, depicting an ever-increasing love fun. A sharp contrast arises between the final chorus (No. 24) "Blanchefleur and Helena" - the culmination of mass jubilation, and the tragic choir No. 25 - the return of No. 1, "O Fortune", forming an epilogue.

A. Koenigsberg

". "Carmina Burana" is translated from Latin as "Boyern songs". This is due to the fact that the original manuscript of the collection (“Codex Buranus”) was found in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery of Beuern (Beuern, lat. Buranum; now Benediktbeuern, Bavaria).

Orchestration

vocals

The vocal part is performed:

soloists (soprano, tenor and baritone),
- additional short solos: 3 tenors, baritone and 2 basses;
mixed choir (first, or "big" choir);
chamber choir (second, or "small" choir);
children's choir or boys' choir.

Instruments

woodwinds:
- 3 flutes (2-3 - piccolo flute),
- 3 oboes (3 - cor anglais),
- 3 clarinets, (2 - bass clarinet, 3 - small clarinet in Es)
- 2 bassoons and contrabassoon;
brass instruments:
percussion instruments :
- timpani (5 boilers),
- orchestral bells (3 bells),
- middle drum,

Structure

Carmina Burana consists of a prologue and three parts, each of which contains several separate musical acts:

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi ("Fortune is the mistress of the world") - prologue;
Primo vere ("In early spring") - includes an internal scene Ûf dem Anger ("On the scaffold", "in the meadow" - perhaps a quote from Walter von Vogelweide's gnomic song "Ûf dem anger stuont ein boum") - the first part;
In taberna ("In a tavern") - the second part;
Cours d'amour ("Love gossip", "courts of love", literally "Court of love" - medieval amusements of the nobility, special courts for resolving love disputes) - the third part;
- Blanziflour et Helena (“Blanchefleur and Helena”; Blanchefleur is a character in a Spanish fairy tale, the daughter of a demon, according to another version, an elven queen, or maybe Blancheflor in a poem similar in plot to Conrad Fleck, like Helena of Troy, abducted from her kingdom by her lover) .

№	Latin name	Russian name	Comment
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi
1.	About Fortuna	Oh Fortune!	The number begins with an orchestral and choral "fortissimo", ending at the end of the third phrase with a delay on a long note. The rest of the first verse and the entire second, on the contrary, are performed in the quietest nuance; at this time, the choir pronounces the words almost in a recitative. The third verse is played at a faster tempo at maximum volume.
2.	Fortune plango vulnera	I mourn the wounds inflicted by fate	Consists of three couplets. The chorus and the first refrain of each of the verses are performed by the male choir, the second refrain - by the general
I. Primo Vere
3.	Veris leta facies	Spring Spell	The number consists of three verses. In each of them, the first two phrases are performed by basses and altos, the second two, followed by a long note during an orchestral loss - tenor and soprano
4.	Omnia sol temperat	The sun warms everything	baritone solo
5.	Ecce gratum	Look how nice she is	Each of the three verses begins the tenor part, which is joined by the rest of the choir in the repetition of the phrase.
Uf dem Anger
6.	Tanz	Dance	Instrument number
7.	Floret Silva	The forest is blooming	The first part of the number sounds in Latin, in the second verse the text begins in Middle High German
8.	Chramer, gip die varwe mir	Give me paint, trader	Text in Middle High German sung only by the female part of the choir
9.	Reie Swaz hie gat umbe Chum, chum, geselle min Swaz hie gat umbe	round dance Look at me young man Come, come, my dear Look at me young man	A short instrumental movement precedes the dance scene, the first and third impetuous parts of which are the same and contrast with the unhurried middle part.
10.	Were diu werlt alle min	If the whole world was mine	Unison of the entire choir. The number completes the "German" block
II. In Taberna
11.	Estuans interius	"Burning Within"	baritone solo
12.	Olim lacus colueram	I used to live in a lake...	Tenor solo; the chorus is played by a male choir. Also known as the "Song of the Roasted Swan", as the narration in this issue is from the point of view of the swan while it is being cooked and served on the table.
13.	Ego sum abbas	I am the pastor	Baritone solo. The male choir comments on the soloist's recitative with short shouts
14.	In taberna quando sumus	Sitting in a tavern	Performed by male choir only
III. Courses d'Amour
15.	Amor volat undique	Love flies everywhere	Soprano solo accompanied by the boys' choir
16.	Dies, nox and omnia	Day, night and everything I hate	baritone solo
17.	Stetit puella	There was a girl	soprano solo
18.	Circa mea pectora	In my chest	Each of the three verses begins with a baritone solo, the first line is repeated by the male choir, then the female choir enters.
19.	Si puer cum puellula	If a boy and a girl...	Performed a cappella by a male choir consisting of 3 tenors, a baritone and 2 basses
20.	Veni, veni, venias	Come, come, oh, come	The number begins with the roll call of the female and male choirs, then the whole choir is divided into two; part of the second (small) choir consists of one repeated word nazaza inserted between the replicas of the first (large) choir
21.	In trutina	On the scales	soprano solo
22.	Tempus est iocundum	Time is nice	The number consists of five verses: in the first, the entire choir sounds, in the second and fourth - only the female group, in the third - only the male group. In the first and third parts the solo is led by a baritone, in the second and fourth - by a soprano accompanied by a boys' choir. The fifth verse is performed by the entire choir and all soloists.
23.	Dulcissime	My most tender	soprano solo
Blanziflor et Helena
24.	Ave formosissima	Hello, beautiful one!	Performed by all choir and all soloists
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi
25.	About Fortuna	Oh Fortune!	Exact repetition of the first number

During each scene, and sometimes during one act, the "Wheel of Fortune" turns, happiness turns into sadness, and hope gives way to grief. "O Fortuna", the first poem edited by Schmeller, completes the circle, forming the frame of the composition of the work.

Notable entries

1960 - conductor Herbert Kegel; soloists: Jutta Vulpius, Hans-Joachim Rotch, Kurt Rehm, Kurt Hubenthal; choir and orchestra of the Leipzig Radio.
1968 - conductor Eugen Jochum; soloists: Gundula Janowitz, Gerhard Stolze, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; choir and orchestra of the Berlin State Opera (choirmaster - Walter Hagen-Grol), the Schöneberger Boys Choir (choirmaster - Gerald Helwig).
1969 - conductor Seiji Ozawa; soloists: Evelyn Mandak, Stanley Kolk, Sherrill Milnes; Boston Symphony Orchestra.
1973 - conductor Kurt Eichhorn; soloists: Lucija Popp, Jon van Kesteren, Hermann Prey; Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio.
1981 - conductor Robert Shaw; soloists: Håkan Hagegaard, Judith Blegen, William Brown; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
1989 - conductor Franz Welser-Möst; soloists: Barbara Hendricks, Michael Chance, Geoffrey Black; London Philharmonic Orchestra.
1995 - conductor Michel Plasson; soloists: Natalie Dessay, Gerard Len, Thomas Hampson; orchestra of the Capitol of the city of Toulouse.
1996 - conductor Ernst Hinrainer; soloists Gerda Hartmann, Richard Bruner, Rudolf Knoll; orchestra and choir of the Salzburg Mozarteum.
2005 - conductor Simon Rettle; soloists: Sally Matthews, Laurence Brownlie, Christian Gerhacher; Berlin Radio Chorus Rundfunkchor Berlin ) and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Influence

Excerpts from "Carmina Burana" have been used in many modern projects, the "O Fortuna" overture is especially popular. Her cover versions and modern arrangements have been recorded by Enigma, Era, Therion, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Gregorian, Ministry, David Garrett, Turetsky Choir and many others.

According to the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, Carmina Burana served as one of the starting points for him when creating the feature film The Seventh Seal.

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Notes

Literature

Michael Steinberg. Carl Orff: Carmina Burana // Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, 230-242.
Jonathan Babcock. Carl Orff's Carmina Burana: A Fresh Approach to the Work's Performance Practice // Choral Journal 45, no. 11 (May 2006): 26-40.

Links

site about cantata Carmina Burana
- [check the link] in MIDI format



The authors

Poems and songs

Carl Orff

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Excerpt characterizing Carmina Burana (Orff)

“I am ready for anything,” said Pierre.
“I must also tell you,” said the rhetorician, “that our Order teaches its teachings not only in words, but by other means that, perhaps, have a stronger effect on the true seeker of wisdom and virtue than verbal explanations alone. This temple with its decoration, which you see, should have already explained to your heart, if it is sincere, more than words; you will see, perhaps, in your further acceptance of a similar way of explaining. Our order imitates the ancient societies that revealed their teachings with hieroglyphs. A hieroglyph, - said the rhetorician, - is the name of some thing that is not subject to feelings, which contains qualities similar to the one depicted.
Pierre knew very well what a hieroglyph was, but did not dare to speak. He silently listened to the rhetor, feeling in everything that the trials would immediately begin.
“If you are firm, then I must begin to introduce you,” said the rhetorician, coming closer to Pierre. “As a sign of generosity, I ask you to give me all your precious things.
“But I don’t have anything with me,” said Pierre, who believed that they were demanding that he hand over everything he had.
- What you have: watches, money, rings ...
Pierre hurriedly took out his wallet, watch, and for a long time could not remove the wedding ring from his fat finger. When this was done, the Mason said:
- As a token of obedience, I ask you to undress. - Pierre took off his tailcoat, waistcoat and left boot at the direction of the rhetor. Mason opened the shirt on his left chest, and, bending down, lifted his trouser leg on his left leg above the knee. Pierre hurriedly wanted to take off his right boot and roll up his trousers in order to save a stranger from this labor, but the mason told him that this was not necessary - and gave him a shoe on his left foot. With a childish smile of modesty, doubt and mockery of himself, which appeared on his face against his will, Pierre stood with his hands down and legs apart in front of his brother rhetorician, waiting for his new orders.
“And finally, as a sign of candor, I ask you to reveal to me your main passion,” he said.
- My passion! I had so many of them,” said Pierre.
“That addiction which, more than any other, made you waver in the path of virtue,” said the Mason.
Pierre was silent for a while, looking for.
"Wine? Overeating? Idleness? Laziness? Hotness? Malice? Women?" He went over his vices, mentally weighing them and not knowing which one to give priority to.
“Women,” Pierre said in a low, barely audible voice. The Mason did not move or speak for a long time after this answer. Finally, he moved towards Pierre, took the handkerchief lying on the table and again blindfolded him.
- For the last time I tell you: turn all your attention to yourself, put chains on your feelings and seek bliss not in passions, but in your heart. The source of bliss is not outside, but within us...
Pierre already felt this refreshing source of bliss in himself, now filling his soul with joy and tenderness.

Soon after this, it was no longer the former rhetorician who came to the dark temple for Pierre, but the guarantor Villarsky, whom he recognized by his voice. To new questions about the firmness of his intentions, Pierre answered: “Yes, yes, I agree,” and with a beaming childish smile, with an open, fat chest, unevenly and timidly stepping with one bare and one shod foot, he went forward with Villarsky put to his bare chest with a sword. From the room he was led along the corridors, turning back and forth, and finally led to the doors of the box. Villarsky coughed, they answered him with Masonic knocks of hammers, the door opened before them. Someone's bass voice (Pierre's eyes were all blindfolded) asked him questions about who he was, where, when was he born? etc. Then they again led him somewhere, without untying his eyes, and as he walked, allegories spoke to him about the labors of his journey, about sacred friendship, about the eternal Builder of the world, about the courage with which he must endure labors and dangers . During this journey, Pierre noticed that he was called either seeking, then suffering, then demanding, and at the same time they knocked with hammers and swords in different ways. While he was led to some subject, he noticed that there was confusion and confusion between his leaders. He heard how the surrounding people argued among themselves in a whisper and how one insisted that he be led along some kind of carpet. After that, they took his right hand, put it on something, and with the left they ordered him to put the compass to his left chest, and forced him, repeating the words that the other had read, to read the oath of allegiance to the laws of the order. Then they put out the candles, lit alcohol, as Pierre heard it by smell, and said that he would see a small light. The bandage was removed from him, and Pierre, as in a dream, saw, in the faint light of an alcohol fire, several people who, in the same aprons as the rhetorician, stood against him and held swords aimed at his chest. Between them stood a man in a bloody white shirt. Seeing this, Pierre moved his sword forward with his chest, wanting them to pierce him. But the swords moved away from him and he was immediately bandaged again. “Now you have seen a small light,” a voice told him. Then the candles were lit again, they said that he needed to see the full light, and again they took off the bandage and suddenly more than ten voices said: sic transit gloria mundi. [this is how worldly glory passes.]
Pierre gradually began to come to his senses and look around the room where he was and the people in it. Around a long table, covered with black, sat about twelve people, all in the same robes as those whom he had seen before. Some Pierre knew from Petersburg society. An unfamiliar young man was sitting in the chairman's seat, wearing a special cross around his neck. On the right hand sat the Italian abbot, whom Pierre had seen two years ago at Anna Pavlovna's. There was also a very important dignitary and a Swiss tutor who had previously lived with the Kuragins. Everyone was solemnly silent, listening to the words of the chairman, who held a hammer in his hand. A burning star was embedded in the wall; on one side of the table there was a small carpet with various images, on the other side there was something like an altar with a Gospel and a skull. Around the table were 7 large, in the sort of church, candlesticks. Two of the brothers led Pierre to the altar, put his feet in a rectangular position and ordered him to lie down, saying that he was throwing himself at the gates of the temple.
“He must first get a shovel,” one of the brothers said in a whisper.
- BUT! Please, please,” said another.
Pierre, with bewildered, short-sighted eyes, disobeying, looked around him, and suddenly doubt came over him. "Where I am? What am I doing? Are they laughing at me? Wouldn't I be ashamed to remember this?" But this doubt lasted only for a moment. Pierre looked back at the serious faces of the people around him, remembered everything that he had already passed, and realized that it was impossible to stop halfway through. He was horrified by his doubt and, trying to evoke in himself the former feeling of compunction, he threw himself at the gates of the temple. And indeed a feeling of compunction, even stronger than before, came over him. When he lay for some time, they told him to get up and put on him the same white leather apron that the others had on, gave him a shovel and three pairs of gloves, and then the great master turned to him. He told him to be careful not to stain the whiteness of this apron, representing strength and purity; then he said of an unidentified shovel that he should work with it to cleanse his heart of vices and condescendingly smooth over the heart of his neighbor with it. Then about the first men's gloves he said that he could not know their meaning, but he must keep them, about other men's gloves he said that he should wear them in meetings, and finally about the third women's gloves he said: the essence is defined. Give them to the woman you will honor the most. With this gift, assure the purity of your heart to the one you choose for yourself as a worthy stonemason. And after a pause for a while, he added: “But observe, dear brother, that the gloves of these unclean hands do not adorn.” While the great master uttered these last words, it seemed to Pierre that the chairman was embarrassed. Pierre became even more embarrassed, blushed to tears, as children blush, began to look around uneasily, and there was an awkward silence.
This silence was interrupted by one of the brothers, who, having brought Pierre to the carpet, began to read to him from the notebook an explanation of all the figures depicted on it: the sun, the moon, the hammer. a plumb line, a shovel, a wild and cubic stone, a pillar, three windows, etc. Then Pierre was assigned his place, showed him the signs of the box, said the input word, and finally allowed to sit down. The great master began to read the charter. The charter was very long, and Pierre, from joy, excitement and shame, was not able to understand what they were reading. He listened only to the last words of the charter, which he remembered.
“In our temples, we do not know other degrees,” the great master read, “except those that are between virtue and vice. Beware of making any distinction that might violate equality. Fly to the aid of your brother, whoever he may be, instruct the erring one, lift the falling one, and never bear malice or enmity against your brother. Be kind and welcoming. Kindle the fire of virtue in all hearts. Share happiness with your neighbor, and may the envy of this pure pleasure never be disturbed. Forgive your enemy, do not take revenge on him, except by doing good to him. Having fulfilled the highest law in this way, you will find traces of the ancient majesty you lost.
He finished and, rising, embraced Pierre and kissed him. Pierre, with tears of joy in his eyes, looked around him, not knowing how to respond to the congratulations and renewal of acquaintances with which he was surrounded. He did not recognize any acquaintances; in all these people he saw only brothers with whom he burned with impatience to set to work.
The great master banged his hammer, everyone sat down, and one read a lesson on the need for humility.
The great master offered to perform the last duty, and an important dignitary, who bore the title of alms-gatherer, began to bypass the brothers. Pierre wanted to write down all the money that he had on the alms sheet, but he was afraid to show pride in this, and wrote down as much as others wrote down.
The meeting was over, and upon returning home, it seemed to Pierre that he had come from some kind of distant journey, where he had spent decades, completely changed and lagged behind the former order and habits of life.

The next day after being admitted to the lodge, Pierre was sitting at home, reading a book and trying to understand the meaning of the square, depicting God on one side, moral on the other, physical on the third, and mixed on the fourth. From time to time he would tear himself away from the book and the square and in his imagination draw up a new plan of life for himself. Yesterday in the box he was told that a rumor about a duel had reached the attention of the sovereign, and that it would be wiser for Pierre to leave Petersburg. Pierre planned to go to his southern estates and take care of his peasants there. He was happily contemplating this new life when Prince Vasily suddenly entered the room.

1. Oh Fortune

Oh fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable
always creating
or destroying;
you disrupt the movement of life,
then you oppress

then you lift
and the mind is unable to comprehend you;
that poverty
that power is
everything is shaky, like ice.

Fate is monstrous
and empty
already from birth the wheel is running
adversity and disease,
welfare in vain
and leads to nothing
fate is following
secretly and restlessly
for everyone, like a plague;
but without thinking
I turn my back unprotected
to your evil.

And in health
and in business
fate is always against me
shaking
and destroying
always waiting in the wings.
At this hour
without letting go,
terrible strings will ring;
entangled by them
and compressed each
and everyone cries with me!

"Carmina Burana" is a unique, interesting and justifiably popular theatrical masterpiece. "Boyern songs" (this is the translation of the words "Carmina Burana") are a monument of secular art of the Renaissance. Handwritten collection, interested th Karl Orff, was compiled in the 13th century, and was found at the beginning of the 19th century in a Bavarian monastery. Basically, these are poems of wandering poets-musicians ov, the so-called vagants, goliards, minnesingers. The subject of the collection is very diverse. Here parodic-satire side by side ical, love, drinking songs. Of these, Orff chose 24 poetic texts, leaving inviolable in Old German and Latin, and adapted them for large modern orchestra, vocal soloists and choir.

Carl Orff (1895 - 1982) - an outstanding German composer who went down in history as a bold reformer of traditional genres. He saw the main task in creating new stage forms. Experiments and searches led him to the modern drama theater, as well as to mysteries, carnival performances, folk street theater, and the Italian comedy of masks.

For the first time "Carmina Burana" was performed in June 1937 in Frankfurt am Main, starting a triumphal procession throughout Europe. For many years it has remained one of the most popular works in the world repertoire. Most often, the work appears before the audience in a concert performance, or as a plotless ballet performed to the soundtrack.

Premiere of the ballet "Carmina Burana" in Kazan

In the evenings, a platform in front of the Opera and Ballet Theater. M. Jalil is full of people - the theater hosts the international ballet festival named after Rudolf Nureyev. The premiere, from which the ballet forum began, turned out to be somewhat unusual - the audience was offered a mystery.

From the vagants

After the third bell in the hall, the apple had nowhere to fall - even the last tier was packed, from which the view of the stage is by no means ideal. Behind the backs of those sitting on the tiers, there were also standing, it was the audience that got into the hall on admission tickets without seats. The beginning of the festival plus the premiere - how can you miss this? Over the past three decades, the Kazan public has been accustomed to going to the theater.

The premiere was timed to the beginning of the festival in the theater: a ballet specially created for the Kazan theater to the music of Carl Orff “Carmina Burana or the Wheel of Fortune”. It was staged by the choreographer from St. Petersburg Alexander Polubentsev.

The symphonic cantata by Carl Orff, written for choir, soloists and orchestra, became one of the highlights of the gala concert of the Chaliapin Festival. This time Orff's musical text became the basis for the ballet.

« My performance is not a ballet in the usual sense of the word. This is a mystery, a stage action that combines music, words, vocals, video, - the director clarifies. He does not specifically write the libretto, his ideal is a reflective spectator capable of co-creation.

To write this symphonic cantataCarl Orff inspiredcase: in an antique shop in his native Munich, he fell into the hands of a bibliographic rarity. Their songs became the text part of the cantata.

Songs- collection of vagants- absolutely different: funny, sad, philosophical, rude and sophisticated.

vicissitudes of fate

The performance begins with the sound of rolling waves and the cries of seagulls, as if a window is opening slightly, and a breeze seems to rush into the hall. But now the choral prologue "Oh, Fortune, mistress of fate" enters powerfully. Fortune, two-faced fate, the fate of a particular person and entire nations, strange turns of history - that's what became the basis of the performance.

The audience will certainly interpret each of the episodes in their own way, and this is interesting. The Wheel of Fortune is spinning, there is nothing permanent - fate either lifts a person to transcendental heights, then throws him to the ground, then smiles at him again and begins to lift him up.

A bright, pastoral scene in which cute couples are dancing - cheerful and carefree. Girls throw wreaths into the water of the river, prosperity reigns in the world, on the earth it is like eternal spring. It makes you want to say: "Spring is sacred." But gradually the picture of the world changes, sinful temptations creep out, and suddenly we see on the stage a strange twitching creature in riding breeches and a cap with a high crown - a dictator. There is a terrible video sequence: the Fuhrer is raging, people are dying. This is how the wheel of Fortune once turned for humanity.

Fortuna (Alina Steinberg) has two faces. And it is not known how she, so changeable, will turn to us. But the Tempter (this vocal part is performed by baritone Yuri Ivshin) is balanced by angels (a touching children's choir), the Wanderer (Nurlan Kanetov) will not be afraid of the dictator (Maxim Potseluiko), and the bride (Kristina Andreeva) will find a groom.

Grief turns into joy, joy is replaced by disappointment, there is no absolute happiness and absolute unhappiness, because the world is constantly changing every second. And all these twists and turns are watched by the choir - the symbol of humanity.

ForPolubentsevo directormystery is more important in this work, this is a street action, it is nicer and closer to the realization of the idea than ballet.

The action is built as if we have before us the frames of a movie, and this video (scenography in the play was done by Maria Smirnova-Nesvitskaya, lighting master - Sergey Shevchenko) turned out to be almost perfect.