Please note: The choir to which I belong, the Cherry Creek Chorale, is performing “O Fortuna” in its October 2021 concert. (Follow the link to the Chorale’s home page.) This article was written for an earlier concert, so don’t be confused!
Back in the fall of 2013 I had the incredible opportunity of singing a full performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with my own choir and a Denver-area symphony orchestra. We didn’t have a ballet to go along with it (although I’ve since attended a performance that included that element), but it was quite an evening all the same. Back then I was trying to figure out how I could create some type of venue to explain the meaning of the lyrics. This question engaged me particularly in the case of Carmina, since not only were the texts very old, but they were also in medieval Latin with a sprinkling of German and French. Since the music itself was very challenging and we were under a demanding deadline, there was no chance for any type of in-person commentary to be given at our rehearsals. How could I get the ideas in these texts across to my fellow choir members so that they wouldn’t just be mouthing syllables? I eventually settled on writing short essays on the words, and here I am today, still doing the same thing here on this website and making the material available to any and all who are interested. Following is some brief introductory material. If you find it intriguing, I’d encourage you to purchase the book I eventually wrote that covers the entire work.
First, some general background on Carmina. What does the title mean? “Carmina” simply means “songs.” “Burana” means “of Beuern” or (if you want the whole big German word) “of Benediktbeuern,” a monastery in Bavaria. Part of the scandalous reputation of Carmina (which I would say is pretty much undeserved) is that all these songs about springtime, love, and drinking were thought of as being written by the monks at Beuern, and they were supposed to have their minds on higher matters. But actually the monks didn’t write them. The manuscript was discovered there in the mid-1800’s, but scholars now think that the songs themselves were written elsewhere, probably by a wide variety of people. Some of the pieces (out of over 250 in all) are 1,000 years old. Carl Orff was introduced to this mass of material in the 1930’s and put 24 of them to music in the Carmina. It had a hugely successful premier in 1937 and has become a staple of classical choral literature. Interestingly, Orff actually wrote Carmina as one of three cantatas with the overall title of Trionfi, but the other two works have not been anywhere near as popular. Maybe someday the Chorale can do an Orff marathon and perform all three!
The title of what famous TV show can be found in the first section, “O Fortuna”?
And the answer is, “Wheel of Fortune.” Whether the producers of that show realized it or not, they named it after a very popular idea from ancient times. The first Carmina section is addressed to a mythical person named “Fortuna.” Today we’d use the word “fate.” If you know your Latin grammar you will notice that Fortuna is the feminine form of the word. Ever heard of “Lady Luck”? That’s who this is, giving out both the good and the bad. The author of our selection seems to think that this lady has treated him pretty badly. And she’s often portrayed as holding a wheel, because it turns. The Romans popularized this image, and if you think about it, it makes perfect sense: as the wheel turns, the top part rotates down and the bottom rotates up. So whoever’s on the top of Fortune’s wheel had better watch out. “Rota tu volubilis” literally means “the wheel (towards) you is changeable.” The speaker in the poem has apparently not had a great time of it in his life recently!
| O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing, ever waning, hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice fate – monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved. so at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the strong man, everyone weep with me! |
O Fortuna velut luna Statu variabilis Semper crescis Aut decrescis; Vita detestabilis Nunc obdurat Et tunc curat Ludo mentis aciem, Egestatem, Potestatem Dissolvit ut glaciem. Sors immanis Et inanis, Rota tu volubilis Status malus, Vana salus Semper dissolubilis, Obumbrata Et velata Michi quoque niteris; Nunc per ludum Dorsum nudum Fero tui sceleris. Sors salutis Et virtutis Michi nunc contraria, est affectus et defectus semper in angaria. Hac in hora Sine mora Corde pulsum tangite; Quod per sortem Sternit fortem, Mecum omnes plangite! |
Here’s a good performance–hey, 15 million people can’t be wrong!
And just because I can, here’s a 9-million-viewed video that will make you forever mishear the lyrics:
© Debi Simons
