Carmina Burana is one of the enduring masterpieces of the 20th Century – beloved by young and old, classics and "pops" lover alike. Despite the popularity of his greatest "hit", Carl Orff's name is not so well-known outside of music educators – for his principal other work is less spectacular, though fundamentally more important: his tremendous contribution to the teaching of music to children.
Orff was born into a well-to-do military family in the Bavarian region of Germany where he lived almost his entire life (in Munich). Fortunately, his family was sufficiently enlightened to allow him to develop his musical talents rather than become a career soldier – though he did serve a couple of years during World War I. In 1924, he co-founded the Güntherschule dedicated to the teaching of gymnastics, music and dance and between 1930 and 33 he directed the Munich Bach Society.
Details of his life are scarce – he was a very private and quiet person. Indeed, when asked in 1955 for a biography of himself, he wrote: "Carl Orff, born 1895 in Munich, still living there". Not only was Carmina Burana the first composition by Orff to attract world-wide attention, it was in a sense his very first published work because after the premier he wrote to his publisher: "Everything I have written to date and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed". Thus was a sizeable collection simply deleted! Although he continued to write music and completed the Trionfi trilogy (of which this work is the first part), he is generally thought of as a single-composition composer.
His school was the major force in his life's work – he felt that the students, many of whom had no instrumental skills, should be able to accompany each other in dance. To this end, he devised, with help from a friend and inspiration from the Indonesian gamelan, the melodic/percussive instruments which we now associate with his name for the teaching of children throughout the world. With voice and recorders, and standard percussion instruments, these provide a relatively easy way for young people to grasp the rudiments of music. Of all the musical elements, however, rhythm was always first and foremost in Orff's teaching methods. His philosophy was that there is no such thing as a non-musical child (or if such do exist, they are rare) and he based his teaching on that premise.
Carmina Burana is a product of that style, featuring as it does a marked dependence on percussion, voice and flute employing generally simple, repetitive melodies and rhythms. It arose out of his desire to create "Total Theater": an art form based on music, words and movement. He was careful to distinguish this from opera, a musical form which he eschewed because he felt that, since its beginnings with the likes of Monteverdi, it had drifted in the wrong direction. His Total Theater concept borrows from elements of Greek and Baroque styles incorporating four themes: the tragedy of archetypes, visionary embodiment of metaphysical ideas, physical exuberance and bizarre fantasy. This performance, like most others, will be without the movement dimension of the experience – nevertheless, there will be plenty of activity to watch on stage!
The text is taken from a collection of thirteenth-century poems written either by monks or wandering scholars but in any case "discovered" in 1803 at the Benedictine monastery at Beueren (whence the title: Songs from Beueren) south of Munich. The 23 presented here deal with the basics of life, at least from the male viewpoint: wine, women and song (and food). The major theme is the cyclic nature of life – the seasons, good and bad fortune – represented in music and dance. This ceaseless rotation is neatly characterized by ending the piece with an exact reprise of the opening number: O Fortuna. There are several references to the "Wheel of Fortune", a favorite theme in the mid twelve-hundreds – English King Henry III had a wheel of fortune painted above his chair in some of his castles.
Most of the 23 are in latin, but four and two halves are in Middle High German, while one appears to be partly in medieval French. Although the texts dealing with love leave little to the imagination, our relatively puritan modern ideals are not offended by the actual words themselves. Most of the poems are joyous and hopeful, though some (especially the fortune and tavern sections) are lamentations. Much of the sentiment is far from ecclesiastical!
Although the poems were discovered notated by neumes – essentially just clues to the appropriate melody – all of the melodies in this work are original. The work has been described as "Driving rhythm and exultant hedonism".
Technically, the work has an extremely elegant simplicity – much of the melodic content has a plainsong (Gregorian chant) style. The rhythms are simple, but powerful (just look at the percussion section) and typically based on 2, 3 or 4 beat measures (though not always, for example the main theme of the Dance (6) is based on a 12-and-a-half beat figure). The harmonic structure is also very simple – often the melody is supported only by a pedal point (a single, sustained note in the bass). Counterpoint, the technique of having multiple simultaneous melodic lines, much beloved of his compatriot predecessors like Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, is almost non-existent here. Add to this the very visceral effect of the "ostinato", a constantly repeating rhythmic figure which is present in many of the numbers, and you have a piece of music quickly and easily accessible to all kinds of music lovers, even those strictly-non-classical teenagers who get hooked on the many quotations in movies, particularly Excalibur and The Doors.
There are six main parts: Fortune, Empress of the World; Spring; On the Green; In the Tavern; The Court of Love; Blanziflor et Helena. All 24 numbers are vocal except the Dance (6) – while number 9 (Round Dance) is preceded by an almost separate orchestral introduction. The instrumentation varies with every section, but whereas Stravinsky (a significant influence on Orff) revels in the different colorations of sometimes unusual solo instruments, the impression given here is that orchestral color is secondary to melody and rhythm.
Apart from the percussion section, the instrumentation required is fairly standard for a symphony orchestra. As mentioned above, flutes, with their very pure tones, are used a lot as is the whole brass section. The tuba enjoys an unusual prominence, lending a very Bavarian flavor to the sound. One of the few instances of a solo instrument chosen for its particular sound is the bassoon which introduces the ludicrously funny roasting swan's lament (12), perfectly mimicking the poor swan being caught and prepared for the spit!
Despite its apparent simplicity, it is a demanding and emotional piece to perform, especially for the three soloists. But because it's one of the most exhilarating and enjoyable compositions for performer and audience alike, it is likely to remain a favorite of the repertoire for many years to come, delighting new generations of music lovers.
For more information on Carmina Burana, see: Carmina Burana Home Page.
These notes prepared for
Symphony Pro Musica's May 1996 performances by
Robin Hillyard.
Copyright 1996 by Symphony Pro Musica, Inc.