Carl Orff
Carmina Burana for soloists, chorus and orchestra

The concert will be broadcast pre-recorded on Rai Radio 3

Among the best known compositions of the 1900s, Carmina Burana, written by Carl Orff between 1935 and 1936, are a scenic cantata inspired by 24 poems among those found in the medieval collection of the same name from the 12th century.

The cantos were written in a mixture of Latin, medieval German and Occitan by the Goliards, a band of poet-musicians made up of scholars and ecclesiastical students who celebrated with earthy humor the joys of the tavern, nature, love and lust. While Orff relied on the original lyrics, he chose not to use the primitive musical notation that accompanied some of the songs. The German musician was attracted in particular by the variety of topics covered in the poems of the Bavarian collection: he began to elaborate some of them musically, up to completing 24 pieces, mostly with Latin text.

Carmina Burana are structured in a prologue, five parts and a finale: the Prologue, Fortuna imperatrix mundi ("Fortuna, empress of the world"), in which the famous O Fortuna is present; the first part, Primo vere ("In spring"), in which the happy appearance of spring is celebrated, the second part: Uf dem Anger ("In the meadow"), in which passages in Old High German appear; the third part: In taberna ("At the tavern"), including passages inspired by the wildlife of the clerici vagantes, gambling, good drinking and good eating; the fourth part, Cour d'amours ("The court of love"), which contains passages praising love; the fifth part, Blanziflor et Helena ("Blanziflor and Helen"), which marks the conclusion of the previous part and the finale, Fortuna imperatrix mundi, which repeats the initial passage.

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