Carmina Burana Song List

[Cortney Ruic]

CarlOrff's 1937 composition Carmina Burana remains one of the most popular pieces of the classical music repertoire. Conductor Marin Alsop and Scott Simon discuss why so many artists have performed the piece.

(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")LYNN NEARY, Host: Carmina Burana ranks up there with Beethoven's Fifth as a perennial favorite among concert-goers. But Carl Orff's famous piece has inspired countless others to produce their own versions, from the death metal group Therion to rappers Naz and Puff Daddy.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "HATE ME NOW")PUFF DADDY: You can hate me now. But I won't stop now. Cause I can't stop now...NEARY: To the electronica artist SUB.(SOUNDBITE OF SUB RECORDING)NEARY: Conductor Marin Alsop has a new recording of Carmina Burana with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on the Naxos label. Maestro Alsop takes over as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra next year. Earlier, she spoke with Scott Simon about this music.SCOTT SIMON, Host: Are there signatures from Carmina Burana that pop up in music over the years?MARIN ALSOP: This has to be probably the best-known 20th century piece, because it's been excerpted to sell everything from cars to aftershave. It's amazing what kind of associations people make for this piece. And actually, something I love to do is, you know, go around and play the opening - the 'O Fortuna - for people, and see what image it evokes. Because I think some people would see themselves, you know, driving in a certain brand of car, where others would see themselves, you know, putting on a certain type of lingerie. Who knows?SIMON: How would you describe this piece, Carmina Burana?ALSOP: It's a spectacle. It's very hard to categorize, and that was Orff's the intent, really. He wanted it to be a piece for all of the senses: to hear the voice, to hear the words, to experience this enormous orchestra, two pianos. And also, it was envisioned to have a dance element and a theater element as well.SIMON: Let's listen, if we could, to the opening section, 'O Fortuna.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")SIMON: How does this set the scene for what follows?ALSOP: Well, the enormity of this opening is so spectacular. Isn't it? And it's all about fate and fortune and how that impacts our lives, and also the hushed quality after this enormous opening. You know, suddenly, let me tell you a secret. Come closer.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")SIMON: The poems were discovered in an abbey near Munich in the early part of the 20th century. They were written by defrocked monk and minstrels, I'm told. Yeah.ALSOP: There's a little bit of a controversy about who actually wrote the body of these poems. It might have been some young people studying, about to go into the monastery, and I think from the text one could definitely get that sense, because so much of the text deals with the things that they are about to give up - you know, lust and drinking and all the really incredibly good things in life that they're about to give up. So I think that makes a lot of sense to me.SIMON: The work is divided into three parts, titled Spring, In the Tavern, and Love.ALSOP: Everything that's important in life is in this piece. There you go.SIMON: Some of the songs are a little colorful, even by today's standards.SIMON: Yes. I would say colorful, but of course, you know, when things are in Latin, the X-rated element almost gets elevated to a new level.SIMON: Yes.ALSOP: If I could put all of my swearing in Latin, I think that would definitely elevate my life.SIMON: There are paeans in this work to the tavern life.ALSOP: I think the word excess probably captures this piece. And I think that again draws people in, because there's something about talking about the excesses in life and the edges that is very appealing.SIMON: Let's listen if we could.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")SIMON: For those of us who have not been to the abbey, what is he saying, Maestro?ALSOP: Estuans interius - that translates into burning inside. So that just gives you a little burning inside with violent anger, you know, and this is all about - yeah, it's really hard to talk about on the radio, I must say.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")ALSOP: One of the spectacular dimensions to Carmina Burana is these amazing solos, you know, for the baritone, who's this hunky kind of masculine guy that you just heard. And then we have the tenor, who depicts the swan on a spit. You know, his dying days. And so the range for the tenor is enormously high in a falsetto voice.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")ALSOP: And then there's a gorgeous soprano who sings higher than one thinks possible. So again, it's about extremes and excess.SIMON: In other words, you don't want to say that she sings high, but the dogs in the audience are driven wild by that performance.ALSOP: It's sort of on the edge of dogland. It's almost leaping from a complete standstill to the top of a building. That's what she has to do, and it's spectacular.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")ALSOP: The words to Dulcissime - sweetest one I give myself to you totally.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")SIMON: Was Orff influenced by the works of any other composers?ALSOP: He's combining so many different stylistic elements. I mean we hear Stravinsky in it in these cross rhythms and when the two pianos get going. And at the same time we can hear really the monks in the monastery - elements of Gregorian chant. And so there's so many different varieties of music, musical styles that come into play, I think that's actually what gives it part of its appeal, because it's got something for everyone.SIMON: Let me ask you about a section called Veni, Veni.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")ALSOP: You hear in this piece the Stravinsky rhythms, and this idea of using two pianos is quite unusual and...SIMON: Now, they sound like they're trying to convince somebody of something.ALSOP: Yes. Well, I mean the literal translation, veni, veni, venias - come, come, oh come. So it's all about enticement, and so I think it definitely is this trying to lure people in.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")SIMON: Carl Orff went from being known as a music educator to the composer of Carmina Burana. And although he wrote lots of other music, as I understand it, he is forever identified pretty much as the composer of Carmina Burana. But was that uncomfortable for him? Did he say, you know, I did write a few other things too?ALSOP: Well, it's this desire of the public to identify and really categorize people. Ironically he wrote several other Carmina-like pieces. There are three of them in the trilogy, and the other two people don't know at all. So maybe that's going to be my - one of my goals to get people to know, to celebrate the three different Carminas.SIMON: Maestro, good to talk to you again.ALSOP: Great to be here. Thank you.NEARY: Maestro Marin Alsop, who takes over next year as conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, speaking with Scott Simon. This last song from Carmina Burana is a love song called In Triutina. For more on Carmina Burana, visit our Web site at npr.org.(SOUNDBITE OF "CARMINA BURANA")

You'll have trouble sitting still when you listen to this lively, fun collection of songs from the famous 13th century Benediktbeuren monastery manuscript known as Carmina Burana. The most important compendium of secular medieval Latin poetry, Carmina Burana sheds fascinating light on the activities of a number of poets and composers--many of their names are forgotten today--whose often irreverent stories and poetic descriptions seem at odds with their religious affiliations. The ruthless unpredictability of fate, the delightful turmoil and tribulations of love, the sensuality of springtime--all of these topics are addressed, sometimes with poetic elegance, but just as often with unsubtle lasciviousness and vulgarity. The Boston Camerata gives us a delightful mix, projecting the kind of dramatic energy normally felt only in live performance. --David Vernier

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Scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff between 1935 and 1936, based on a collection of medieval poems. Notably they had been put to music before but in Orff's time nobody could read medieval music notation. This is the original, or at least interpreted, medieval notation. Now we can and suffice it to say, the original melodies are rather different from what Orff came up with. The piece lasts about an hour and has serious moments, goofy moments, and more than its share that are pure Narm. The lyrics cover all aspects of medieval life from sex, to drinking to the plight of sentient, talking roasted swans. If you've ever heard them and think that they don't sound a bit like a gambling garden party, you're right. As an unfortunate footnote, it remains the most famous piece of music to emerge from Nazi Germany.

It's the money part, "O Fortuna", that people remember, due to it being one of the the most famous examples of Ominous Latin Chanting as well as one of the most overused trailer songs in history, a Standard Snippet for whenever we want to suggest an Epic Movie. It's also a fine example of Canis Latinicus; not only is it in Medieval Latin, which differs greatly from the classical language, but it's also sung with what can best be described as a French accent, stressing the last syllables of each word. In proper Latin, the stress on each word is generally placed on the penultimate syllable, but that doesn't fit well into the music.

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