#Carl orff carmina burana full#
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African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-metre dash at the Berlin Olympics, one of four gold medals he will take home from the Games.In 1936, Carl Orff composed Carmina burana. They included reasonably distinguished poets such as Hugo of Orleans as well as some (the vast majority) identified only by pseudonyms. The Goliards were a diverse group of wandering scholars or clerics, providing courtly entertainment between the 10th and 13th centuries. The collection was discovered in the monastery of Benediktbeuern after its secularisation and edited for publication by Johann Andreas Schmeller in 1847. The texts Orff had found are a diverse collection of poems from a group of poets now known as the Goliards. On the very same day I had outlined a sketch of the first chorus O Fortuna.вЂќ вЂњFortune smiled on me when she put into my hands a Wurzburg second-hand books catalogue, in which I found a title that attracted me with magical power: Carmina burana вЂ¦ On opening it I immediately found, on the front page, the long-famous picture of вЂFortune with her wheel,вЂ™ and under it the lines O Fortuna / velut luna / statu variabilis вЂ¦ Picture and words seized hold of me вЂ¦ a stage work with singing and dancing choruses, simply following the illustrations and texts, at once came into my mind.

#Carl orff carmina burana full#

OrffвЂ™s full title is Carmina burana / cantiones profanae / cantoribus et choris cantandae / comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis - roughly, вЂњSongs from Benediktbeuern / secular songs / for singers and chorus / with the accompaniment of instruments and magic images.вЂќ The work was indeed staged at its first performance in June 1937, at the Stadtische Buhnen in Frankfurt am Main since then concert performances have been the norm rather than the exception, with the imagination of the listener entrusted with providing its own вЂњmagic images.вЂќ Orff himself told of the circumstances in which he found the texts: This in turn led to his famous Schulwerk, intended for primary school instruction in music using the simplest of elements. In 1924 Orff had co-founded a school (the GГјntherschule,named for its other co-founder Dorothea Gunther) which sought to expose its students to dance and gymnastics as well as to music. No less importantly, there is the influence of OrffвЂ™s own work from the decade before Carmina burana. (Interestingly, Stravinsky himself had by this time moved on from such folk-influenced music to his own brand of neo-classical archaism.) Closer in time to the origin of the verses, there are touches of Medieval monody - and even specifically of plainsong in settings of texts mocking churchly pretensions. Some of the works of Stravinsky had also come recently to OrffвЂ™s attention, and in particular Les Noces (for voices, pianos and percussion) has a strong influence on parts of the score, both in instrumentation and harmony. Twenty years later, Orff authorised a smaller-scale version which uses two pianos and an extensive battery of percussion, instead of a full orchestra, thus accentuating the rhythmic energy of the music it is this version which is recorded here. Carmina burana was originally written (in 1936) for choirs, soloists and large orchestra.Orff uses elements from medieval music - flowing melodic lines in the style of Gregorian plainsong, and simple harmonies (sometimes just a single, long-held bass note, or вЂњdroneвЂќ) - to evoke the world of the medieval poets. The themes of the poems range from the worldly to the downright earthy: the cruel randomness of Fate, the joys of Spring and the beauty of nature, and the pleasures (and perils!) of drinking, gluttony, gambling and lust.(Benediktbeuern is the name of the town in southern Germany in whose abbey the manuscript was found.) Some of the poems are in Latin, some are in medieval German or French, and some are in a mixture of languages. The title Carmina burana means вЂњSongs from BenediktbeuernвЂќ and refers to a medieval collection of poetry written by travelling scholars and clerics.As a music educator, he used rhythm and movement as the basis of a teaching method which fosters improvisation and creativity in young children OrffвЂ™s вЂњSchulwerkвЂќ is still used by music teachers around the world.Carl Orff believed passionately in the importance of taking music back to its roots, turning away from the lush harmonies of late Romanticism in favour of bold, direct musical gestures.

#Carl orff carmina burana free#

Now, letвЂ™s find out what the Latin lyrics actually translate to in English (feel free to chant along in your head, itвЂ™s quite catchy вЂ“ albeit intense).