Carmina Burana I: O Fortuna

Temple University Symphony Orchestra and Combined Choirs performance of Carmina Burana with Andreas Delfs conducting:

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[macprofire]

This tendency to try to find dirt on popular pieces is quite interesting. It‘s not like Orff, Mendelssohn or Beethoven couldn‘t write hideously complicated things, they just had the courage to strip away the fluff. A courage I so far didn‘t muster. Thank you so much for these lectures. I‘m very much looking forward to the next chapters. Especially when things get deliciously ugly ^^

[yannschwab]

I didn't take time to say it, but I usually watch old videos of yours, Thomas, and although the content is always good, the formal aspects are far better in the new ones. With noteperformer excerpts of individual sections, the color outlining of everything you mention, it's so easier to follow... It's just perfect.

[Qermaq]

Some might claim that Orff wrote an hour-long piece by writing 25 minutes of music and adding repeat signs. But that fails to recognize the thought that went into when to repeat the music exactly and when to introduce little evolutions, and what kind, all to make the repeats not just repeats at all. That makes the repeated sections familiar but remain fresh. Exquisite.

[figaroverdi]

Carmina Burana is so fun to sing. I have sung it a few times and every time is a different experience. Thank you for all the hard you put into making this video, I really enjoyed and learned a lot.

[andreasheierre]

Brilliant video! Excellent! 
Percussionist here - I do enthusiastically appreciate that you highlight the different timbres (and limitations) the different timpani sizes have in their respective registers. Way too many composers/orchestrators tend to think that "a drum is a drum and a pitch is a pitch"...

[oscarkersey]

As someone who has sung the choral bass part in Carmina Burana, I can confirm that the verse beginning with "Sors salutis" is great fun to sing. The long-held D on the final syllable of text is definitely quite difficult to execute in one breath, but I don't worry too much about it if I do end up having to breathe and start all over again, mainly because there are many other singers around me who will still be singing it, and also because the listeners will be more likely to be paying attention to the trumpets and trombones than the singers 😆

[kinkipup]

I have been waiting for part one of this series for so long! I love your work and you have helped my own orchestrations and arrangements immensely
Thank you.

[michaelrydholm]

A brillant analysis whith high didactic quality, thank you!

[alexchristodoulou]

Fantastic! Your attention to detail and the extra mile of explaining the “why” are second to none!

[d.j.j.g]

This is in Carl Orff's new-old "elemental" style. He developed it during the entire decade previous to "Carmina" while teaching at the Güntherschule in Munich, to high school- and college-age young ladies, starting in 1924. (In 1944, in WW II, the school was bombed). He and his composing and teaching colleague, Gunild Keetman (she a very fine composer indeed, though sometimes Schott would credit him as the composer for her works) used borduns (drones, often in octaves or perfect fifths) and ostinatos quite liberally, often with old melodies and modality. "Carmina Burana" is the fruit of those years of study. Thanks, Mr. Goss, for honoring and understanding his work!

[jonathanp]

Ok, thomas, I haven't watched this all the way through yet, but I just want to say how much these series have changed. Yes, i know I preferred the off-the-cuff style, but at the beginning when you had those note-performer mockups of different instruments isolated, I think those kinds of things can be very beneficial to beginning score readers. I actually like this style too.

[peterbouma]

I always thought this was relatively 'simple' music, and I never paid much attention to the orchestration, although I have studied the score a bit in the past (and arranged it for amateur groups). I must say, your video brings out a lot of details I hadn't noticed before, and it clearly shows how skilfully Orff uses his resources. Thank you!
As a part-time linguist (apart from part-time/aspiring orchestrator) I love your attention to the translation aspect, and I salute you honouring your language-savvy ancestors. Your remark about the 'Omnes' reminded me of a passage in Monteverdi's Maria Vespers, where on this very word the whole choir bursts out. (BTW: Also judging by my rusty classical high school Latin, I'm not sure *corde* is referring to strings, I think it's the ablative of *cor*, 'heart'. But I know, in Medieval Latin it can be tricky.)

[brunocoliveira]

I love this so much! Thank you Thomas!!

[AtomizedSound]

I always dig this song when I hear it. So powerful in its registers and timbres! Definitely a modern “classical” masterpiece

[emilyhopebunny]

Since this series is lining up pretty fortuitously (lol) with my own upcoming Carmina performance, I bought the full score and am starting to dig in! Looking forward to being the nerd in the back of the choir opening this score up like a newspaper while the director works with other sections

[FelipevonMontfort]

Thank you very much, Thomas! I can't wait for the next exquisite teachings.

[AndrewRayQuiroz]

Great video, discussing one of the most famous (and possibly cinematic) pieces of music. Regarding balance, I found it interesting that Sopranos and Tenors tend to project a bit more in louder passages than Altos and (especially) Basses, even if doubled by Horns. The Pianos were also not terribly audible if the whole orchestra was playing.

[VonSmith-eoid]

SALSA COOKIES! WINDMILL COOKIES!!! It's finally started! Looking forward to the rest of the series!

[eddygonzalez]

I don't see why Orff would use 2 pianos. By the time he wrote this, we already had the modern piano, not a Fortepiano. Do orchestra actually use 2 pianos? Also the base notes with the unfinished tie, I would interpret that as a sostenuto pedal. I would use the sostenuto pedal, which allows it to ring without having to use sustain pedal, which will muddle the rest of the chords. I imagine this will be a very difficult to conduct. Not so much the size with choir and orchestra, but the constant change in tempo.

[yannschwab]

I never write for choir, so I'm not very familiar with the implied orchestration... Therefore, I have to ask : is it very common to double voices with brass in unisson ? I would have feared that the brass section could take over...