Carmina Burana (Orff)

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Stage design by Helmut Jürgens for "Carmina Burana", performance by Bayer. Munich State Opera 1959
Fortuna's Wheel of Fortune (Rota Fortunae) , illumination in the Codex Buranus

Carmina Burana ( Latin for Beurer songs or songs from Benediktbeuern ) is the title of a scenic cantata by Carl Orff from 1935/1936. The texts in Middle Latin and Middle High German are taken from Carmina Burana , a collection of song and drama texts written in the 11th and 12th centuries.

After the composition by Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite , Carl Orff summarized the Carmina Burana with them under the title Trionfi . Performances of the entire triptych remained the exception.

The Carmina Burana was premiered on June 8, 1937 in the Frankfurt Opera under the musical direction of Bertil Wetzelsberger and the direction of Oskar Wälterlin .

Emergence

In 1934 Orff came across the edition of Carmina Burana published by Johann Andreas Schmeller in 1847 . Michel Hofmann , a young law student and Latin and Greek enthusiast, supported him in the selection and compilation of 24 of these texts for a libretto , mainly in Latin and some in Middle High German and Old French . The selection encompasses a wide range of secular themes: the variability of happiness and prosperity, the volatility of life, the joy of the return of spring, and the pleasures and dangers of drinking, gluttony , gambling and lust .

The setting is a completely new composition. At the time Orff's work was written, hardly any of the original medieval melodies, notated in neumes, had been reconstructed. So he designed the music according to well-known stylistic features of the Middle Ages such as drone accompaniment and church modes . Orff himself called his work neither an opera nor an oratorio or cantata . Sometimes the designation “scenic cantata” is added as a subtitle to the work, but scenic performances of Carmina Burana are clearly in the minority compared to concert performances . The full Latin title is Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanæ cantoribus et choris cantandæ comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis (Beurer songs: secular songs for singers and choirs, accompanied by instruments and magical images).

occupation

The Carmina Burana are orchestrated for 3 flutes (two of which alternate with piccolo ), 3 oboes (one of which alternates with English horn ), 3 clarinets in Bb and A (one alternates with Eb clarinet, one alternates with bass clarinet ) , 2 bassoons , contrabassoon , 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in Bb and C, 3 trombones , tuba , 2 pianos , celesta , large percussion and strings.

The percussion consists of 5 timpani (a piccolo), 2 small drums , bass drum , triangle , various cymbals , ratchet , castanets , sleigh bells , tam-tam , tambourine , tubular bells , 3 bells , 3 carillon and xylophone .

The vocal parts each include a soprano , tenor and baritone soloist, a large mixed choir with solos for 3 tenors, baritone and two basses, a four-part chamber choir and a children's choir .

A reduced version for soloists, large mixed choir, children's choir, two pianos and percussion was arranged in 1956 by Orff's pupil Wilhelm Killmayer and authorized by Orff. There is also an arrangement by Friedrich K. Wanek, also authorized by Orff, with five movements for ten wind instruments (instrumentation: 2 flutes (2nd also piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd also English horn), 2 clarinets in Bb, 2 horns, 2 bassoons (2nd also contrabassoon)). Another arrangement is the jazz arrangement by Polheim, Hirschmann, Beigang for organ, bass and drums (Carmina Variations).

construction

Orff chose a structure in three parts:

  • Primo vere , Ûf dem anger (awakening of spring, love)
  • In taberna (opulent feast)
  • Cours d'amour and Blanziflor et Helena

The work is framed by a mighty choir in honor of the goddess of fate Fortuna ( Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi ), who is ultimately supposed to determine the fate of the people.

Orff dealt quite freely with the material found in the Carmina Burana. So he used only parts or individual stanzas of several poems for his choral work. From the great love dialogue CB 77 he only adopted the verse in which the beloved is compared with Blanziflor, a heroine of the old French knightly saga, and with the beautiful Helena, who sparked the Trojan War : Here the composer liked the connection typical of Carmina Burana medieval and ancient educational content. Also, he did not follow the often very complicated meters of the songs , sequences and corpses of the handwriting, but invented completely new, often rousing and dance-like rhythms for the old texts.

Musically, the choral work is of refined simplicity: in conventional or archaic harmony , it relies entirely on the power of its melodies , whose simplicity is sometimes reminiscent of counting rhymes . There is just as little opening up and further development of motifs as there is counterpoint .

Impact history

After the successful premiere in 1937 Orff wrote to his publisher: “Everything that I have written so far and that you have unfortunately printed, you can now crush! My collected works begin with Carmina Burana ! "

The work quickly became one of the most popular pieces of serious music of the 20th century. Adolf Hitler is said to have appreciated the work. The Reichsmusikkammer and the reviews after the premiere had reviled it because of the specific rhythm (“Bavarian nigger music ”), the undisguised eroticism of its texts and the Latin used.

The Carmina Burana have been used many times in other works. In particular, the massive choral movement to CB 17 (O fortuna) , with which the work begins, is so popular that it is often used as film music, mostly in the recording of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Robert Shaw; the Internet Movie Database lists over 90 film and television productions in which the Carmina Burana is used in the soundtrack. In addition, the work has been used repeatedly in advertising .

literature

  • Markus Bandur: Carl Orff: Carmina Burana. In: A. Riethmüller (Ed.): History of Music in the 20th Century: 1925–1945 (= Handbook of Music in the 20th Century. Volume 2), Laaber, Laaber 2006, ISBN 3-89007-422-7 ( full text ; PDF; 1.9 MB).
  • Frohmut Dangel-Hofmann (ed.): Carl Orff - Michel Hofmann: Letters on the emergence of Carmina Burana. Schneider, Tutzing 1990, ISBN 3-7952-0639-1 .
  • Susanne Gläß: Carl Orff - Carmina Burana (= Bärenreiter factory introduction ). Bärenreiter, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-1732-2 .
  • Kii-Ming Lo : Seeing, hearing and understanding: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's film adaptation of "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff. In: Thomas Rösch (Hrsg.): Text, music, scene - The music theater by Carl Orff. Schott, Mainz 2015, ISBN 978-3-7957-0672-2 , pp. 147-173.
  • Thomas Rösch (Hrsg.): Text, music, scene - The music theater by Carl Orff. Symposium Orff Center Munich 2007. Schott, Mainz 2015, ISBN 978-3-7957-0672-2 .
  • Werner Thomas: The Wheel of Fortuna - Selected essays on the work and impact of Carl Orff. Schott, Mainz 1990, ISBN 3-7957-0209-7 .
  • Franz Willnauer (Ed.): Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. Origin, effect, text. Schott, Mainz 2007, ISBN 978-3-254-08220-6 .
  • John Austin: Pronunciation of the Middle High German Sections of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana". In: The Choral Journal. Volume 36, Number 2, 1995, pp. 15-18 (English) and Guy AJ Tops: De uitspraak van de middelhoogduitse teksten in Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" . In: Stemband. Volume 3, Number 1, 2005, pp. 8–9 (Dutch) reconstruct the pronunciation of the Middle High German texts; both with IPA phonetic transcription.

Movie

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Halbach: World premiere of Orff's "Carmina Burana". In: Bayerischer Rundfunk , June 8, 2017 ( MP3 ).
  2. ↑ Hans Christian Worbs, on the cover of: Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eduardo Mata , RCA 1981.
  3. ↑ Hans Jörg Jans (Ed.): World theater. Carl Orff and his stage work. Schneider, Tutzing 1996, ISBN 3-7952-0861-0 , p. 122 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  4. ↑ Sherree Owens Zalampas: Adolf Hitler: A Psychological Interpretation of His Views on Architecture Art and Music. Bowling Green State University Popular Presse, Bowling Green 1990, ISBN 0-87972-487-0 , p. 104 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  5. ↑ Edwin Baumgartner: Carl Orff, In Small Steps to Success , website of the Wiener Zeitung daily , June 11, 2012
  6. ^ Carl Orff in the Internet Movie Database , accessed on November 20, 2013.