![]() It is neither the refined language of the classical era, nor even the educated Medieval Latin of the Church. But the Latin isn’t the proper, correct version of the language that we learn in school. They were primarily written in Latin, with a sprinkling of German and French thrown in, too Latin was still the established language of instruction and scholarship, and the international language of Europe. The text comes from a series of poems/lyrics written in the 11th and 12th centuries, which were gathered together into a single collection at the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria. So, what are the problems with it? For one, the language is really, really bizarre. This experience brought me up close and personal with the text, and gave me a renewed respect for the difficulties of translating it to English-and the incredible wit of its original authors. The powers that be agreed, and I note that many years later, it’s still the one the Orchestra prints in the Showcase magazine (I’m also attaching it as text below). ![]() And so while I was still working as a staff writer for the Minnesota Orchestra, I asked for a chance to put together a translation of my own. Poetry is always tricky to translate, and Carmina Burana is particularly troublesome. I would never have believed back in middle school that it would be more of my signature works!īut as we started routinely performing it, something started to irritate me-the translations of it were atrocious. And as a burgeoning singer, I fervently hoped that one day I might finally have a chance to actually sing it.Īt this point, all my friends and colleagues in the Minnesota Chorale are laughing uproariously-it is a rare year that we don’t perform it. In my adolescent mind, that was the coolest work ever written, one that always made my hair stand on end. The powerful opening chorus, “O Fortuna,” is something you hear all the time, and by mid-adolescence I quickly recognized it as the Big Dramatic Scary Music Piece that meant something really bad-ass was about to happen. To begin I want to step back and say a few words about how I came to love the work and its joyous wordplay. They are surprisingly intelligent-and very much worth getting to know. ![]() It may surprise you to hear that one of the reasons I enjoy the work so immensely is the wonderful, sardonic wit of its lyrics. I’ve dealt with the work in many ways, over many years, and I wanted to say a few words about it that might help put it in a different light. In fact its popularity has frequently raised the hackles of classical music aficionados, who often look down on it as being an adolescent work-a primal scream with no depth or real interest. Here’s another example, with pictures and different mis-heard lyrics.Carmina Burana is one of the world’s most popular works of classical music, and has been used in everything from commercials and campaign ads to movie trailers and football commentary. In 1935-36, O Fortuna was set to music by the German composer Carl Orff as a part of his cantata Carmina Burana. It is a complaint about fate and Fortuna, a goddess in Roman mythology and personification of luck. “ O Fortuna” is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem written early in the thirteenth century, part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana. Isn’t that how it goes? This dramatic and sinister piece is a medieval lament written by students and scholars who didn’t get their grant money, whose girls had thrown them over, and who were generally miserable. It addresses the goddess of luck. ![]() Pastortoddhammond on Mysterious tropical fruits… John Anderson on Gregory Clark, soldier and… ![]() all-ages activity aquariums art authors base cuisine bible birds books Canada career cats celebration children churches City of Toronto color communication cooking culture cycling deaths Don Valley education equipment events exercise family fish food gay marriage getting organized health heroes history house humor jerks knitting LOL LOLcats music nutrition office Ontario people personal pets Pharyngula recipes Pilates plants politics quick cooking quotations random thought rats recipes religion running science science fiction seasons skies song songs Southern Ontario sports swimming technical communication technology Toronto transport travel trees U.S. ![]()
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