8/18/2019 Synopsys of Carmina Burana, movement by movement

1/3

Synopsys of Carmina Burana, movement by movement

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Fortune, Empress of the World)

1. O Fortuna (o Fortune)/ 2. Fortune plango vulnera (I lament the Wounds that

fortune deals)

Choir

The entire work is framed by this section. This poem is clearly associated with an illuminated illustration

of the wheel of fortune on the first page of the Benediktbeuren manuscript. Talks about the fortune

and how if rules our lives.

I Primo Vere (First act)

3. Veris leta facies (The Joyous Face of Spring)

Small Choir/4. Omnia sol temperat (All the things are tempered)/5. Ecce gratum

(Behold the Welcome)In this section first a small choir, then a baritone solo, and finally a rousing mixed chorus sing of the joys

of spring, with love as a strong subsidiary motif:

Curramus in amore… (let us compete in love) 

Ama me fideliter… (Love me truly) 

Illi mens est misera, (wretched is the man)

Qui nec vivit, (who never lives)

Nec lascivit (nor lusts)

Sub estatis dextera (under summer’s spell)

II. Uf dem Anger (On the Green)

In this section, Orff represents five German songs.

6. Dance

OrchestraLively peasant-like dance, making use of sophisticated rythms.

7. Floret silva (The noble forrest)

Chorus

Delightful comic song, first in Latin then in German. A women’s chorus speaking as one girl asks where

her friend has gone, and a male chorus answers “Hinc equitavit.” (He rode away in his horse). The

syllables are sung “Hinc, hinc, hinc, hinc, hinc, hinc, equitavit, equitavit, equitavit, equitavit, tavit tavit

tavit tavit tavit”. The music, specially the timpani executes a riding figure.

8. Chramer, gip die varwe mir (Salesman! Give me colored paint)

ChorusBold folk-like tune. Orff chose it from one of the six ecclesiastical dramas. “Salesman, give me colored

paint, to paint my checks so crimson red, that I may make these bold young men whether they will or

no, to love me.” 

8/18/2019 Synopsys of Carmina Burana, movement by movement

2/3

9. Reie (reie)

Orchestra

Starts with a delicate Round dance, after which a mixed chorus leads into a seductive small chorus of

altos singing “Chume, chum, geselle min, ih enbite harte din.” (Come, come, dear heart of mine, I so

long have waited for thee). Then the boisterous mixed chorus is repeated.

10. Swaz hie gat umbe (They who Here go Dancing Round)

ChorusA brilliant trumpet and trombone fanfare introduces the final song of this section. Clearly a single man’s

thoughts, is sung by the full chorus in unison. Also, note how natural accent od lege is not respected by

the music.

“Were “diu werlt alle min, von deme mere unze an den Rin, des wolt ih mih darben“ If the whole world

were but mine, from the sea right to the Rhine, gladly I’d pass if by.” 

II. In Taberna (In the Tavern)

Four songs sung by men’s voices only. They talk about drinking (and about a roasting swan).

11. Estuans interius (Seething inside)BaritoneAbbreviated version of the Archipoeta’s celebrated parody of a confession. In this the music leaves no

doubt as to the parodic intnt, but also has an urgency and vehemence which are in the poem, as though

the confession was pressing and urgent.

12. Olim lacus colueram (Once in lakes I made my home)

Tenor and Male ChorusThis is a swan, lamenting his fate in pathetic tones, for he is roasting on a spit: “Girat, regirat garcifer”

(on the spit I turn and turn) and he envisions himself on a platter staring at the teeth of his eager and

heartless devourers: “dentes fredentes video” (Gnashing teeth confront me). The music starts with a

bassoon playing a kind of slowly “rotating” figure. When the voice enters, the orchestra shifts to flutter-

tongued flutes and muted violas playing 64th notes in a low accompanying figure, for all the world like

the slightly awkward off-balance turning of a spit.1

13. Ego sum abbas (I am the abbot)

Baritone and Male Chorus

This song begins “Ego sum abbas Cucaniensis” (I am the abbot of Cucany). The “abbot” is a drinker and

gambler. His monologue is set by Orff for baritone solo as a liturgical plain chant, as though it were

being sung in a church.

14. In Taberna quando sumus (When we are in the tavern)

Male Chorus

The text is sung by the full chorus in unison octaves. The song moves rapidly, celebrating drink, thecarousers propose a toast to thirteen entities and:

Tam pro papa quam pro rege (they drink to the pope and king alike)

Bibunt omnes sine lege. (all drink without restraint)

8/18/2019 Synopsys of Carmina Burana, movement by movement

3/3

II. Cour d’amours (The courts of love) 

This section is longing, it is slyly sexual, sometimes ardent and at the end submissive, as the girl

surrenders herself the her desires.

15. Amor volat undique (Love flies everywhere)

Soprano and Children’s choir  This song argues that it is right for men and women to be joined together, to which a solo woman’s 

voice sings “con estrema civiterria fingiendo innocenza” (extremely coquettish pretending innocence) of

how awful is for a woman not to have a man.

16. Dies, nox et Omnia (Day, night, and all the world)

BaritoneA mixture of Latin and French, a baritone laments with florid coloratura passages the coldness of his

beloved. A solo soprano counters in the third with a saucy, provocative, sexy, account of a girl in a red

tunic. So it goes back and forth with a succession of advances, rebuffs, laments, insinuations.

17. Stetit puella (There stood a young girl)

Soprano/18. Circa mea pectora (my brest)baritone and Chorus/19. Si puer cumpuellula (If a boy and a girl)Male voices/19. Si puer cum puellula (If a boy and a girl)

Male voices/20. Veni, veni, venias (Come, come, pray, come)Double chorusThese movements keep elaboratin on love, longing, and virginity.

21. In trutina (In the Scales)

Soprano

A troubled girl sings of her aching doubts: “In trutina mentis dubia, Fluctuant contraria lascivus amor et

pudicitia” (In the scales of my wavering indecision, physical love and chastity are weighted). But she

gives up to her desires: “Sed eligo quod video…” (But I choose what I see…) 

22. Tempus est locundum (Pleasant is the season)

Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and children’s choir  

This is a long choral dialog in which both boys and girls admit their desires: “Tempus est iocundum”

(pleasant is the season) After each exchange there is a refrain in which the men claim, but equanimity,

that they are perishing from unrequited love.

23. Dulcissime (sweetest boy)

SopranoIn this brief number we hear the girl with intensely and urgently sexual tones yield herself totally.

24. Ave formisisima (Hail to there)

ChorusIn this separate sub-section, the choral hymn to Helena and Blanziflor is heard. The words and music

combine in this movement to depict a vision of beauty and majesty. Its apparent confusion between the

Virgin Mary and the goddess Venus is suggestive of the monk-poet's confusion between his sacred and

secular roles. The choir remains in six-part harmony.

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi

This is a joyful, defiant affirmation of man’s ability to cope with life’s problems, the message of both the

medieval manuscript and of Orff’s recreation.