Carmina Burana

Composed 1936; Duration: 67 minutes

First BPO Performance: October 2-3, 1982 (Julius Rudel, conductor)

Last BPO Performance: May 12-13, 2018 (JoAnn Falletta, conductor)

“Regnabo, Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno.” The text adorning the first page of the Carmina Burana (“Songs of Benediktbeuern”), translated as “I shall reign, I reign, I have reigned, I am without a realm,” refers to the medieval concept of cyclical fate as symbolized by the Wheel of Fortune. Amidst the restrictive repression of the church, young rebellious clergymen of the 11th and 12th centuries, known as goliards, expressed frustrations through song and poetry with taboo eroticism and satire. Carmina Burana is the most famous compilation of such works, comprising 55 songs of moral mockery, 131 love songs, 40 drinking songs, and two theater pieces, composed mostly in Latin, but occasionally in Middle High German and Old French.

Born in Munich in 1895, the young Carl Orff composed songs in the later Romantic tradition before serving in the German Army during the Great War. As an adult, he became interested in Greek Classicism with a particular interest in the theatrical, and presented an early revival of the first opera, Monteverdi’s 1607 L'Orfeo. He was also interested in Stravinsky’s new ballet, Les noces—its brutal prehistoric folkloric nature evoked the world of antiquity that Orff sought to recreate in his own art.

The original manuscripts of songs were sealed in the Benediktbeuern monastery’s library (in Bavaria) for centuries, and were discovered when it was reopened in 1803. Four decades later, German linguist Johann Andreas Schmeller published the manuscripts and gave it the name for which it is known. When Orff first obtained a copy of Schmeller’s edition in 1934, he was instantly captivated by the image of the Fortune Wheel and quickly set a few of the book’s texts to music. With the help of antiquities enthusiast Michel Hofmann, Orff selected 24 songs from Carmina Burana to form the libretto of a new cantata.

Orff’s new libretto begins with the famous introduction, “O Fortuna” (“Fortune, Empress of the World”). Each movement is performed attacca, or without breaks between, but is divided into sections of thematically similar songs, beginning with “In Spring,” which contains three songs about springtime, followed by five dancing songs for “On the Green” (breaking from Latin, these songs are almost entirely Middle High German). The work continues with four drinking songs, “In the Tavern,” followed by “Court of Love,” containing nine love songs. The work concludes with a brief excerpt from the medieval love story, “Blancheflour and Helen” (the song here is “Hail to the most lovely”), and a reprisal of the opening “O Fortuna,” representing a full turn of the Wheel of Fortune.

About a quarter of the original manuscript poems were accompanied by proto-notational “neumes,” which at the time of Orff’s composition, were indecipherable symbols. Instead, he created new melodies inspired by the works of Renaissance composers such as William Byrd. The musical picture in Orff’s head, largely inspired now by Stravinsky, was orchestrationally simple, clear, and often metallically bright, and other times woody and brooding. The harmony was overtly conventional, and counterpoint was explicitly absent. The rhythm, however, was brutal with forward motion and unpredictable with metric changes to match the text in a conversational style. The choirs sing as one, often juxtaposing men’s, women’s, and children’s voices. The characters portrayed by soloists create more personal dramas, such as the furious baritone aria “Seething inside,” or the sardonic “Once I swam in lakes,” in which the tenor acts as a roasting swan.

Orff had been conceiving of an untold story, a dramatic musical portrayal of a hardcore primeval past, and the earthy text of Carmina Burana was the perfect vessel to implement his concept. Although the cantata lacks a concise plot, the Fortune Wheel narrative drives the succession of bombastic, humorous, and seductive tableaus, conveying an imaginary antiquity that appeased its creator. Upon an enormously successful 1937 premiere, Orff instructed his publisher to destroy all of his previous works, as this was his new path forward, beginning again upon the Wheel of Fortune.