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 inviolable 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 written by vagants, wandering medieval poets who sang 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).
The 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:
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Prologue |
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O Fortune, you are as changeable as the moon I mourn the wounds inflicted on me by fate |
Fort un plango vulnera |
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I part - "Spring" (« Primovere») |
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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 |
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2- th section - "In the meadow" |
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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 |
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II part - "In the tavern" (« Intaberna») |
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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 |
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III part - "Love Pleasures" (« Courd amours») |
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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 |
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2- th section |
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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 |
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№ 25 |
Oh Fortune |
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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."
Act I
In the prologue, we see a fiery funnel formed from the interweaving of the bodies of sinners and demons, personifying their sins. In vain people try to get out of the circles of hell, which they themselves have created by their own recklessness. Only one of them manages to break out. He will become our main character. Finding himself alone in the middle of an icy desert, the Hero sees an Angel who mercifully holds out his hand to him and takes him to a new beautiful world where there is no place for suffering, where people live in harmony with themselves and with each other.
The young man is fascinated by this world, where there is complete harmony between nature and man. Here he meets his beloved. They are happy together. But the night is coming - the time of temptations. Darkness separates the couple, and in the mysterious darkness before the Hero appears the mystical image of the Temptress. Unable to resist the temptation, the Young Man rushes after her, but she constantly dissolves in the darkness, alluring and elusive. The girl is looking for her lover, but in vain. She senses trouble.
The sun is rising. People united in pairs glorify the love and joy of life. The girl finds her lover and calls him into the general circle. But he is aloof, the beautiful image of the Temptress does not go out of his head. And, barely seeing her ghost in the distance, the Hero rushes after her, leaving the newly found Paradise.
Act II
Sin City. Half-humans, half-animals are mired in pleasures. The Demon-Temptress with his retinue rules the ball. The young man appears. He is full of passion and desire. Ready for anything for the sake of intimacy with the Demoness, the Young Man falls at her feet. The temptress gives him a passionate kiss.
The retinue calls to glorify the Young Man as a king. There is a coronation ceremony, which is buffoonish and mocking, but the Young Man takes everything at face value. The demoness is his queen. An intoxicated youth in her passionate embrace. Gradually, the clownish coronation turns into a sabbath, an orgy. The demoness, surrounded by a brutal crowd, leaves the Hero.
The barely breathing, tormented Young Man sees the image of an Angel in the distance, then the image of his beloved, which awakens him to life, to the realization of loss ...
In the lost Earthly Paradise, he is greeted with coldness, the inaccessibility of the Beloved and the rejection of the people who expel him, not wanting to see a sinner. But a loving heart is unable to endure the suffering of the Young Man. The girl forgives him, and the lovers are reunited. Celebrating, people glorify love and harmony.
The sun is leaving. The "wall of fire" of demons pinches people and forms a circle. People are tormented in attempts to escape from this space, but in vain. An angel stands with outstretched hands helping people...
“Everything that I wrote, and you, unfortunately, published, you can destroy. My collected works begin with “Carmina Burana,” – in such words, addressed to the publisher, the German composer Carl Orff evaluated his cantata “Carmina Burana”, created in 1936. Such a judgment will not seem overly categorical, given that this stage The cantata brought the composer his first significant success, and now remains his most popular creation. Today, Carl Orff is most often remembered either as the creator of the system of musical education, or as the author of Carmina Burana.
The name of the work is translated from Latin as "songs of Beuren" - a medieval monastery located in Bavaria. Under this title, the German philologist Johann Andreas Schlemmer published in 1847 a manuscript found in this monastery at the beginning of the 19th century. This manuscript, compiled in the thirteenth century, contained samples of the poetry of Goliards and Vagantes, wandering poets who came from a student milieu. Most of the poems were written in Latin, which in that era was the international language not only of the Catholic Church, but also of science, but there are also poems in national languages. These poems are diverse in their content - love, satirical, edifying, drinking, theatrical performances.
The composer met Carmina Burana in 1934. Orff was particularly interested in a miniature depicting the wheel of Fortune and allegorical figures on four sides of it: a man climbing up, seated in a crown and with a scepter, dropping his crown and prostrated. Of the three hundred and fifteen poems that make up the collection, Orff chose twenty-four, and they became the basis of a work that combines the features of a cantata and a stage action. The work was written within a few weeks and delighted the publishers, in whose presence the composer played it on the piano, but Orff himself was not satisfied and continued to work on the cantata until 1936.
The composer subtitled the cantata "Secular songs for singing by singers and choirs, together with instruments and magical images." The performing staff is huge: a large mixed choir, a chamber choir, as well as a boys' choir, three soloists - soprano, tenor and baritone, along with which the luminaries of the choir stand out - two tenors, two basses and one baritone, a triple symphony orchestra with a large number of percussion instruments and two pianos. Most of the numbers have a strophic form.
There is no specific plot in it - a wide and colorful panorama of life unfolds before the listener, in which there is a place for laughter and suffering, love and entertainment. All this is dominated by the changeable Fortune, from whose power no one is free. This image, from which Orff began his passion for Carmina Burana, appears in the two-part prologue. The first of the choral numbers is based on the Phrygian tetrachord and is a thematic grain that will remind you of itself in subsequent numbers. The second choir is distinguished by the same severity. In both numbers, the features of Orff's style are especially clearly manifested: ostinato rhythms, repetitive chants, second-quarter chords, diatonicity, emphasizing the percussive nature of the piano.
The first part - "Spring" - combines numbers from the third to the tenth, painting pictures of awakening nature. The theme of the first part is based on the folk dance music of Bavaria, but this joyful picture is penetrated by a turn reminiscent of the “Fortune theme” from the Prologue – it appears in the third and fifth numbers.
The second part - from the eleventh issue to the fourteenth - is entitled "In the tavern". It is distinguished from the previous one by the absence of major keys and female voices, as well as an abundance of parodic techniques, which corresponds to the content: the free life of the vagantes, who prefer worldly pleasures to save their souls. “The Lament of the Roasted Swan” performed by the tenor-altino really has the features of lamentation, but the grace notes give it comedy, and in the thirteenth number - “I am the abbot” - the baritone psalmody is answered by the exclamations of the choir: “Sentry!”
The third part - "Love Joys" - in figurative structure echoes the second. In its first section (numbers from the fifteenth to the seventeenth) gentle lyrics dominate, in the second - stormy passions. Choral numbers with the participation of piano and percussion instruments alternate with ensembles and solos with chamber accompaniment; in one of the numbers, an ensemble of male voices sings without instrumental accompaniment. The culmination of the movement - the twenty-fourth number "Glory, most beautiful!", A jubilant hymn of love - is interrupted by an intrusion of material from the first number of the prologue ("O Fortune!"), The cantata opens and ends with the same theme. This gives harmony to the composition, and symbolizes the turn of the wheel of Fortune.
Having completed "Carmina Burana", the author proposes his new creation for the Berlin Festival, but refused it due to devastating criticism - in particular, the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler said: "If this is music, then I don’t know what music is at all!" The Nazi authorities did not favor the works either. In 1937, they nevertheless managed to achieve a performance, but a few days later the cantata was declared an "undesirable work" and was not performed for three years.
But dictators come and go, but masterpieces remain. Today "Carmina Burana" is the most famous creation of Carl Orff, and the relative rarity of its performance is explained only by the scale of the composition, which creates certain difficulties.
Music Seasons
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Carl Orff "Carmina Burana"
One of the most controversial classical works of the 20th century is the symphonic cantata for choir, soloists and orchestra Carmina Burana. From the moment of the premiere to this day, one can meet diametrically opposed opinions both about the work and about its author. But all the contradictions correspond to the spirit of the era: 1937, Nazism in Germany, the Jewish roots of the composer ... It was fate itself, or Fortune, that decided the lot here.
The history of the appearance of the text basis
By the time the work was written, Carl Orff was 40 years old, and he was known more as an innovative teacher. He and his wife only recently opened a school where they taught children according to their own methodology - through body movements, rhythm and playing the simplest instruments in a child, they tried to “wake up” natural musicality and talent.
And it was at this moment that a songbook found in one of the Bavarian monasteries fell into his hands. It was dated to the year 1300, and contained many texts written by vagants - itinerant singers and poets. It was a medieval monastery songbook, and by that time it had already gone through 4 editions. The name "Carmina Burana" was given by the first keeper and publisher of the collection, Johann Schmeller, after the name of the area in which it was found. “Fortune, playfully, slipped into my hands the catalog of Würzburg Antiques, where I found a title that magically riveted my attention: “Carmina Burana - German songs and poems from manuscripts of the 13th century, published by Johann Schmeller.”
The collection contained about 250 texts by different authors in different languages: in colloquial Latin (by the way, pharmacy prescriptions are still written in it), in Old German and Old French. At first glance at the list of opus topics, it seems absurd to combine them into a common book. Despite the fact that they were found in a monastery, there was nothing religious there at all. On the contrary, all the texts are very vital - lyrical love serenades and romances, drinking songs, funny parodies. A little later in the article this will be explained.
On the first page there was a picture of the wheel of fortune. The emblem represents several circles that connect the outer, inner and spiritual worlds. In the center is the figure of the goddess of Fate. The spokes are like parallels. But when the wheel turns, the person depicted at the edges of the picture is in different positions. This symbolically illustrates the content of the allegory: regnabo, regno, regnavi, sum sino regno. Translation: I will reign, I reign, I reigned, I am without a kingdom. Fortune spins the wheel at random (she is sometimes drawn blindfolded).
In the dictionary of symbols we find the reading: “he who is exalted today will be humiliated tomorrow”, “he who arrives below today, fortune will lift him to the heights tomorrow”, “Madame Fortune rotates the wheel faster than a windmill”.
History of creation
For the cantata, the composer selected 24 verses (the final 25 repeats the first, thus closing the cycle). In the choice he was assisted by a friend-translator. Work began instantly, on the very first day in 1934 he wrote the first chorus "O Fortuna". Many texts were accompanied by pneuma (imperfect musical notation), which Carl Orff ignored without even trying to decipher. He immediately started writing his music, and the musical text was completely ready in 2 weeks. The rest of the time before the premiere, he was engaged in writing the score.
From childhood, Carl Orff dreamed of his own theater, made his own productions, scenery, wrote texts for them, etc. Creating a one-man show was his dream. "Carmina Burana" became the embodiment of such an idea. Moreover, the author himself spoke out that it was from her that his works should be counted, and everything that had been written before that should be burned. Indeed, he simply destroyed many creations.
A stage cantata is, first of all, a spectacle, a mystery, where words, music, ballet, and vocals are combined. In addition to the sound effect, the author thought over the original design of the stage - during the entire hour that the performance was going on, a huge wheel was spinning on the stage, which plunged the audience into awe.
At that time, the theme of the chosenness of the Aryan race was very popular in German society, exhibitions were held with exhibits showing signs of degeneration, degradation, etc., since the authors-artists were not Aryans. Such exhibitions were visited by millions of citizens. And the success of Orff's innovative music in the wake of this strange enthusiasm for "ugliness" was highly doubtful.
Music
The compositional structure of the cantata is very interesting. The prologue, the first number - the famous choir "Oh, Fortune" - sounds so bright, gets such a rapid development to the crescendo in 88 bars of sound, that a further increase in tension in the music is simply impossible! It seems that the cantata begins with a climax!
The cantata's most celebrated number, the title chorus, is actually a treatment of Aphrodite's lament from an opera by the 17th-century composer Claudio Monteverdi. At one time, Carl Orff was seriously fond of Monteverdi's music, and even made an editorial for the opera Orpheus, which was performed in many opera houses.
But the quote "Oh Fortune" is direct. The musical language of the number is interesting. From the point of view of melody, this music can even be considered primitive to some extent - narrow laconic moves, a short closed cycle, constantly repeating - ostinato sound, in the bass throughout the entire number, tireless D sounds, changing only the strength and volume towards the end. In this number, the rhythm is clearly the main theme - insistent, elastic, pulsating.
It can also be said that the melody is intonation close to the medieval chorale "Dies Irae". But if you remember that the text in Latin in time refers to the Middle Ages, then everything becomes logical. Although the text “Oh Fortune” does not have a church canonical meaning, but rather refers to the so-called colloquial (or vulgar) Latin, its meaning is strict and harsh - fortune commands people with a strong hand: while one is overthrown, it already raises the other to the heights in order to throw it back to the ground the next moment. No one ever knows what will happen to him in the next minute.
The meaning of the text is clear to the Germans or the French in much the same way as our contemporaries "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" by ear. Nevertheless, his expressiveness plays a big role in the dramatic development of the number. From disturbingly formidable at the beginning, with consonants clearly rebounding from the teeth, in a slightly chanting manner, to a biting, accusing sound in the second half.
Such a powerful dynamic development of the first number requires a contrasting continuation. The second number (“I mourn the wounds inflicted by fate”) is much drier in melody and rhythm - against the background of sustained long sounds, a melody reminiscent of Bach (with syncope, detentions), develops in a small tessitura. This choir opens part 1 and continues the theme of Fortune, although here the theme of Spring, a miraculous transformation, is already underway.
According to the composer's idea, the stage performance of the cantata was to include not only the orchestra, the voices of the choir and vocalists, but also color schemes. If the introductory number was to be performed in the presence of black, then green appears from the next. The subsequent development of the color line will lead viewers to virgin white and end with a return to black.
The contrast of white and black is not accidental here. If we turn again to the texts, which initially seem to be a slightly blind set of disparate, unrelated songs, then such an alternation will become noticeable: blackness, symbolizing sin, dirt, suffering and redemption, gradually passes to the revival of life (in spring), the flowering of love from the first timid love to a real sublime, almost divine, and then again turns towards sin, free songs from the tavern appear, immersion in the earthly, base, sinful - to blackness and hellish torments. The wheel has completed the circle.
The symbolic circle in this context draws an allegory of the spiritual awakening of a person, the path of his soul, which can either rise in its aspirations or fall into the abyss. The harmony of color in 4 parts develops from pale pink to purple-red, which also resembles the royal mantle.
The music of the cantata is very picturesque. Numbers dedicated to love are performed by soloists. While the satirical parody and songs of the monks are performed by the choir, accompanied by amplified orchestral instruments. There are many stylizations for everyday folklore, moreover, he does not use exact quotes, but the music will often “remind” the listener of something.
Known numbers:
No. 1 "Oh, Fortune" - listen
No. 2 "Fortunae plango vulnera" - listen
No. 5 "Ecce gratum" "Sweet welcome spring" - listen
Arrangements and cover versions by modern performers are also known:
- enigma;
- era;
- Therion;
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
"Carmina Burana" in the cinema
This music is very fond of modern television and cinema. It sounds in television shows around the world, in movies and TV shows, even in advertising. Most often, of course, they use "Oh, Fortune." It is not possible to compile an entire list of TV projects in which you can hear excerpts from Carmina Burana, only a small list:
- t/s "X-factor" (2016);
- TV series How I Met Your Mother (2014);
- t / s "The Right Wife" (2014);
- t / s "Brooklyn 9 - 9" (2014);
- t/s "Losers" (2013);
- t / s "The Simpsons" (2009, 2011);
- film "Pretend to be my wife" (2011);
- t / s “So you know how to dance” (2009-2010);
- t / s "Dancing with the Stars" (2009);
- film "The Bride from the Other World" (2008);
- k / f "The Best Film" (2008);
- film "Magicians" (2007);
- t / s "Friends" (1999);
- k / f "The Bachelor" (1999);
- film "Natural Born Killers" (1994).
The twentieth century is filled with similar events. Not only German composers, writers left their homeland, having lost their roots forever. Mankind is evolving technically, but does not always have time to draw the right conclusions from historical lessons. And sometimes art is faced with the task of not only finding inspiration, but making the most difficult moral choice.
Video: listen to "Carmina Burana"
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 well-known 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