Carmina Burana
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- This article is about the medieval collection of poetry. For Carl Orff's musical composition, see Carmina Burana (Orff).
Carmina Burana (IPA: ['karmɪna bu'raːna]; note that the stress is on the first syllable of Carmina, not the second) also known as the Burana Codex is a manuscript collection, now in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, of over 1000 poems and songs written in the early 13th century.
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[edit] The manuscript
The Latin title Carmina Burana or Songs of Beuern was assigned by Johann Andreas Schmeller in 1847. Beuern (from OHG bur = "small house") refers to Benediktbeuern, a village in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps about thirty miles south of Munich which takes its name from the abbey of Benediktbeuern founded there in 733. Subsequent research has shown that the manuscript did not originate there; Seckau Abbey is regarded as a likely earlier location.
The pieces are almost entirely in Latin, though not in Classical Latin meter, with a few in a dialect of Middle High German, and some snatches of Old French. Many simply are macaronic, a mixture of Latin and German or French vernacular of the time. They were written by students and clergy about 1230, the Latin idiom was the lingua franca across Italy and western European for travelling scholars, universities and theologians. Most of the poems and songs appear to be the work of Goliards, clergy (mostly students) who lampooned and satirized the Church. The collection preserves the works of a number of poets, including Peter of Blois, Walter of Châtillon, and the anonymous one referred to as the Archpoet.
[edit] Sections
The collection is divided into 6 sections:
- Carmina ecclesiastica (Songs on religious themes)
- Carmina moralia et satirica (Moral/Satirical songs)
- Carmina amatoria (Love songs)
- Carmina potoria (Drinking songs - also includes gambling songs and parodies)
- Ludi (Religious plays)
- Supplementum (Versions of some of the earlier songs with textual variations)
The first section, thought to be of religious songs, is now lost and there is no record of the missing poems. This also means that it is impossible to trace the manuscript's existence prior to its mutilation, since manuscripts were usually catalogued by their opening line. The final section is not originally part of the manuscript and is a scholarly reconstruction of some of the poems where differences and emendations have been found buried underneath other text.
Many of the religious songs and several of the love songs and drinking songs are accompanied by neumes that suggest melodies. Some of the poems have also had corresponding melodies discovered in later manuscript sources.
A typical example of one of the love songs is 13 (85), which highlights the melodious aspect of medieval Latin lyric:
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[edit] Musical settings of these texts
Between 1935 and 1936 German composer Carl Orff set 24 of the poems to new music, also called Carmina Burana. The most famous movement is "O Fortuna," (Fortuna meaning Luck in Latin) based on the medieval poem of the same name.
Other musical settings include:
- German band Corvus Corax recorded "Cantus Buranus", a full-length opera set to the original Carmina Burana manuscript in 2005.
- English lyric singer, Sarah Brightman covered two of the original Carmina Burana songs "O Fortuna" and "In Trutina", the first one being a trance/techno mix and the other the original lyric song with the London Orchestra
- German medieval band Qntal have a mix of the original Carmina Burana's song "Ecce Gratum" (album O, Tristan)
- The German medieval band Estampie has it's own version of "O fortuna". Estampie houses some of the same members as Qntal.
- The RPG videogame Final Fantasy VII's most famous musical piece, "One-Winged Angel" (composed by Nobuo Uematsu), utilizes lyrics from Carmina Burana (specifically from "O Fortuna", "Estuans interius", "Veni, veni, venias", and "Ave formosissima."). The song now exists in several versions, including full orchestra and also with a rock band for the recent movie sequel to the game, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, which in fact includes original lyrics.
- Pieces by German/Norwegian doom/gothic metal band Theatre of Tragedy, such as "Amor Volat Undique" and "Circa Mea Pectora" in the song Venus (album Aégis)
- Synth/Medieval, french band Era recorded a Mix called "The Mass" featuring pieces of "O Fortuna" from the original Carmina Burana.
- Pieces by German folk-metal bands In Extremo, Finisterra, Tanzwut, such as "Totus Floreo", "Stetit Puella", "Omnia Sol Temperat"
- Pieces by the German electro-medieval musical groups Helium Vola and Qntal
- Pieces by the Norwegian gothic metal musical group Tristania ("Wormwood" from album "World Of Glass" 2001)
- Pieces by the Swedish medieval inspired band "Rävspel och Kråksång" translated into Swedish.
- Pieces by the Symphonic Metal musical group Therion ("O fortuna" from album "Deggial" 2000)
- Pieces by the techno/trance group "Apotheosis" (O Fortuna [Apocalypse Chorus Mix], O Fortuna [7" Edit], O Fortuna [Live Action Remix]) - 1989
- Norwegian EBM/Synthpop Group Apoptygma Berzerk sampled O Fortuna in the song "Love Never Dies (Part 1)" on the 1996 album "7"
- Pieces by the American Heavy Metal band Iced Earth, in their 1992 album Night Of The Stormrider, the intro of the song "Angels Holocaust".
- The manuscript is referred to in the musical RENT, in the song La Vie Boheme, with the line, "German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Kurosawa, Carmina Burana."
- The musical project Enigma utilized the Orff renditions heavily in its fourth album, The Screen Behind the Mirror.
- San Francisco avant garde musical troupe The Residents presented their own instrumental cut and paste midi version, the composition attributed to their "mentor" N. Senada, as Pollex Christi. It also featured sections of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Alexander Courage's main theme to Star Trek and George Wyle's "Ballad Of Gilligan's Island".
