On this date in 1937, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana premièred in Frankfurt. 10 things you might not know about it:
'Carmina' means 'songs', while 'Burana' is the Latinised form of Beuren, the name of the Benedictine monastery in Benediktbeuren, Bavaria. So, Carmina Burana translates as “Songs Of Beuren”.
Its full title is Carmina Burana: Cantiones Profanae Cantoribus Et Choris Cantandae Comitantibus Instrumentis Atque Imaginibus Magicis (Songs Of Beuren: Secular Songs For Singers And Choruses To Be Sung Together With Instruments And Magic Images).
It’s an adaptation of a collection of early 13th-century songs and poems discovered in Beuren in 1803, although it was later discovered that the collection originated from Seckau Abbey, Austria. The originals are now kept in the Bavarian State Library.
The originals were written in Latin and High German. At some point someone translated the old texts into English and here’s where Carl Orff came in, when he came across the translation in 1934, and decided to set some of them to Music.
The subject matter isn’t really what you’d expect to come out of a Benedictine monastery: the fickleness of fortune, drinking, gambling, gluttony, the joy of the return of spring, and lust.
Carmina Burana is divided into three sections – Springtime, In the Tavern and The Court Of Love – each preceded by and ending with an invocation to Fortune.
One of the invocations to Fortune is the best known part of the piece: O Fortuna. It has been used in advertisements to sell coffee, beer, pizza, soft drinks and aftershave (Old Spice). It’s often used in film and TV shows, too, including: the film Excalibur, when King Arthur and his knights ride into battle; Glee; The X Factor; Britain’s Got Talent and Cheaper by the Dozen. The video game “World of Warcraft” uses the song as the main theme for a log in screen.
After initial concern about the erotic lyrics, the Nazi regime in Germany liked it a lot. It has been suggested that its rhythms were reminiscent of the “stamping columns of the Third Reich”. Expecting the UK Tory party to start using it any day now. That said, in the words of Alex Ross, "the music itself commits no sins simply by being and remaining popular.”
The premiere of Carmina Burana went so well that Orff, then 41, wrote to his publishers: “Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, published, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana my collected works begin.”
When he was 80, Orff collaborated with director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle to make a film version with acting and choreography.
Character birthday
Rupert Garrett, Viper agent and father of Sebastian, the Viper Assassin featured in Killing Me Softly.
Killing Me Softly
Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.
Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena.
Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.
Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena.
Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.
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