Home Page   Contact Us 

News

Current News

Carmina Burana comes to New Paltz this spring...

Carl Orff’s dramatic cantata Carmina Burana brings to life a medieval world of wayward monks, lovers and drinkers, set to music of elemental power and deceptive simplicity.  The texts come from a 13th-century manuscript of Latin and Middle High German poems found at the abbey of Benediktbeuren in Bavaria.  The poems’ authorship is unknown, but they are probably the work of goliards, clerical students of an irreverent, satirical turn of mind whose poetry makes fun of the rituals of the church and celebrates the pleasures of bed and bottle.

Since its premiere in 1937, Carmina Burana has been one of the most quoted, imitated and parodied pieces in the choral repertoire, but it still retains its hypnotic power.  Orff himself must have sensed this; after the first performance he wrote to his publisher, "Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana my collected works begin."

Carmina Burana is divided into five sections, each suggesting a short dramatic scene:

  • Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi [Fortuna, Empress of the World] – the famous opening chorus, with its driving percussive rhythms borrowed from Stravinsky’s ballets.
  • Primo vere [Spring] – a celebration of the return of Spring, new life and love, with sinuous, flexible vocal melodies.
  • In Taberna [In the Tavern] – set for male voices, this section features the baritone soloist as the “Abbot of Cucany”, or king of drunken revelry; the tenor as a roasting swan; and the male chorus in a rousing drinking song.
  • Cours d'amours [Court of Love] – a dialogue between baritone and soprano, with commentary by the chorus; he presses his advances on her, she hesitates but ultimately yields.
  • Blanziflor et Helena [Blanziflor and Helena] – a hymn in praise of the Goddess of Love, followed by a return of the opening chorus.

With its pounding rhythms, expressive melodies and uncomplicated harmonies, Carmina Burana has long been a favorite of singers and audiences alike. Please join us on May 6 for this landmark of twentieth-century choral music.

Dr. Edward Lundergan