570033bk USA 17/11/06 5:53 pm Page 28 Carl ORFF (1895–1982) ORFF Carmina Burana Claire Rutter, Soprano • Tom Randle, Tenor • Markus Eiche, Baritone Carmina Burana Highcliffe Junior Choir • Bournemouth Symphony Youth Chorus Rutter • Randle • Eiche Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Marin Alsop Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi # Ego sum abbas 1:32 (Fortune, Empress of the World) 5:27 $ In taberna quando sumus 3:05 Marin Alsop 1 O Fortuna 2:40 2 Fortune plango vulnera 2:47 III Cour d’amours (The Court of Love) 16:46 I Primo vere (In Spring) 8:57 % Amor volat undique 3:17 3 Veris leta facies 3:53 ^ Dies, nox et omnia 2:24 4 Omnia sol temperat 2:15 & Stetit puella 1:43 5 Ecce gratum 2:49 * Circa mea pectora 1:58 ( Si puer cum puellula 0:57 Uf dem anger (On the Green) 14:13 ) Veni, veni, venias 1:00 ¡ In trutina 2:16 6 Tanz 1:55 ™ Tempus est iocundum 2:26 7 Floret silva 3:29 £ Dulcissime 0:45 8 Chramer, gip die varwe mir 3:16 9 Reie 4:38 Blanziflor et Helena Swaz hie gat umbe (Blanchefleur and Helen) Chume, chum geselle min ¢ Ave formosissima 1:50 Swaz hie gat umbe 0 Were diu werlt alle min 0:55 Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Fortune, Empress of the World) II In Taberna (In the Tavern) 10:57 ∞ O Fortuna 2:39 ! Estuans interius 2:30 @ Cignus ustus cantat: Olim lacus colueram 3:49 8.570033 28 570033bk USA 17/11/06 5:53 pm Page 2 Carl Orff (1895–1982): Carmina Burana Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi Fortune, Empress of the World Carl Orff was born in 1895 in Munich, where he studied Framed by a prologue and epilogue, the portentous ∞ O Fortuna O Fortune at the Academy of Music, later occupying positions as setting of O Fortuna, a poem that conventionally (chorus) director of music at the Munich Kammerspiele, the laments the fickleness of Fortune and the wheel that Mannheim Nationaltheater and the Landestheater at turns, taking kings to beggary, Orff’s Carmina Burana O Fortuna O Fortune, Darmstadt. In 1919 he returned to Munich and five years is divided into three principal sections. The first of these velut luna like the moon statu variabilis, changeable, later established with Dorothee Günther the celebrates the joys of spring, the second is in the tavern, semper crescis always waxing Güntherschule for gymnastics, music and dance. The with drinking and dicing, and the third is devoted to aut decrescis; or waning; result was his influential Schulwerk, which has had a love. The orchestra used has a large percussion section, vita detestabilis hateful life marked effect on the teaching of music, with the use of including five timpani, three glockenspiel, xylophone, nunc obdurat now is harsh tuned percussion instruments, ostinato rhythms and castanets, ratchet, sleigh bells, triangle, small cymbals, et tunc curat and then is caring creative aims, associated with physical movement. four cymbals, including a suspended cymbal, tamtam, ludo mentis aciem, on a whim; It was Orff’s work as conductor of the Munich Bach three bells, tubular bells, tambourine, two side-drums egestatem, destitution, Society from 1930 to 1935 that led to the composition of and bass drum, with a celesta and two pianos. The potestatem power his best known work, Carmina Burana, a setting of principal soloists are a soprano, tenor and baritone with dissolvit ut glaciem. it melts like ice. secular medieval Latin, French and Middle High a chorus, semi-chorus and boys’ chorus. String parts are German poems from a manuscript preserved originally often percussive in character and the compelling Sors immanis Fate, monstrous et inanis, and empty, in the Bavarian Abbey of Benediktbeuren. Intended as a rhythms are notated in such a way as to give the rota tu volubilis, you are a turning wheel, stage cantata, the work marked a new beginning for Orff impression of considerable freedom. status malus, an evil condition as a composer, and his later compositions explored still The scene is set for spring, with the semi-chorus vana salus vain for well-being further this very characteristic form of Veris leta facies in characteristic rhythm, accompanied semper dissolubilis, ever melting away, Gesamtkunstwerk, drawing on a variety of sources, from by sustained notes from the upper woodwind and celesta obumbrata in shadow ancient Greece to medieval Europe. and followed by the baritone welcome to the warmth of et velata and veiled The texts that Orff chose to set in Carmina Burana the sun, accompanied by sustained notes and harmonics michi quoque niteris; you weigh down on me too; were drawn from a manuscript now dated to the late from the strings. Bells and glockenspiel usher in the full nunc per ludum now through gambling thirteenth century, one of the most extensive and chorus in further celebration. The second part of the dorsum nudum I have my back bare remarkable collections of medieval Latin poems, section devoted to spring, Uf dem anger (On the Green), fero tui sceleris. through your evil-doing. mingled with French and German (this last group in starts with a vigorous dance in asymmetrical rhythm, the Sors salutis Fate in well-being Bavarian dialect) confirming their local origin. Perhaps burden of which passes from the strings to the wind. et virtutis and in virtue copied at the Abbey itself, the ordered collection is of There is contrast between chorus and semi-chorus in the michi nunc contraria, is now against me; variable literary merit and scribal accuracy, but always setting of Floret silva nobilis. The sopranos of the latter est affectus broken, of considerable interest in its reflection of the tastes of introduce the words of the first German poem, Mary et defectus weakened, the time, particularly in the tendency towards the Magdalene’s song, with the full chorus adding semper in angaria. always in bondage. secular. The power that lies behind the music of intervening passages that are hummed. Muted strings Hac in hora In this hour Carmina Burana is primitive, even barbarous. Insistent introduce a Round Dance, followed by the plucked notes sine mora without delay rhythms, ostinato repetitions and a complete avoidance of the violins that start Swaz hie gat umbe, with the corde pulsum tangite; pluck the strings; of chromatic or atonal musical idioms, make the work semi-chorus adding its seductive Chume, chum, geselle quod per sortem for through Fate compelling, unforgettable and physically attractive in its min, before the first verse returns. Trumpets and sternit fortem, the strong are laid low, simple energy and strength. It was first staged in trombones lead to the final Were diu werlt alle min. mecum omnes plangite! all of you weep with me! Frankfurt am Main in 1937. Insistent dotted rhythms in the repeated pattern of 8.570033 2 27 8.570033 570033bk USA 17/11/06 5:53 pm Page 26 £ Dulcissime Sweetest one the string accompaniment support the baritone solo that energetic Mandaliet. Male voices alone, in an Allegro opens the tavern scene, while the ironic lament of the buffo, offer Si puer cum puellula in a six-part texture. Dulcissime, Sweetest! Ah! roasted swan, introduced by a bassoon, allows the tenor, This is followed by a double-chorus setting of Veni, totam tibi subdo me! I give myself to you totally! shadowed by a muted trumpet, to ascend to the highest veni, venias, accompanied by the two pianos and Blanziflor et Helena Blanchefleur and Helena register. Ego sum abbas gives the baritone initial percussion. A measure of serenity is restored for the freedom, his song punctuated by muted brass and soprano In trutina, marked molto amoroso and echoed ¢ Ave formosissima Hail, most beautiful percussion. The chorus ends the section with In taberna gently by two flutes. Joy is unconfined in the vigorous quando sumus, continuing the common topic of such choral Tempus est iocundum, with its use of contrasting Ave formosissima, Hail, most beautiful, verses, the predictable effects of gambling, as the solo verses and verses for boys’ voices. The following gemma pretiosa, precious jewel, gambler loses the shirt off his back. The drinkers’ litany soprano Dulcissime, accompanied by a sustained note on ave decus virginum, hail, ornament of virgins, starts in music-hall style, ending in a final shout. muted lower strings, is delivered with complete and virgo gloriosa, glorious virgin, Cours d’amour opens tenderly, with the voices of appropriate abandon and the section ends with the ave mundi luminar, hail, light of the world, children leading to the mock innocence of the soprano monumental hymn-like praise of the heroines ave mundi rosa, hail, rose of the world, solo. Syncopated string writing introduces the following Blanchefleur and Helen. This leads without a pause to Blanziflor et Helena, Blanchefleur and Helen, Venus generosa! noble Venus! baritone solo, Dies, nox et omnia, with its interpolated the ominous return of O Fortuna, with which the work French words allowing more extravagant ornamentation had begun. in a higher register. Stetit puella is entrusted to the soprano soloist and the rhythm changes for the baritone Circa mea pectora, echoed by the chorus, before the Keith Anderson Claire Rutter Born in South Shields, County Durham, in the north of England, the soprano Claire Rutter studied in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the National Opera Studio sponsored by The Friends of English National Opera. She won numerous awards, which enabled her to study with Ileana Cotrubas. She now studies with Gerald Martin Moore. She was nominated for the Maria Callas Award following her American début as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for Dallas Opera.