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Home , Antigonae, Carl Orff, Carmina Burana (Orff), Catulli Carmina, Der Mond, Die Bernauerin

AUDIENCE GUIDE AUDIENCE 2018

- 2019 | 2019 59thSeason Our | Issue 4

March 15 – March 31, 2019

Music by

Reduced by

Four of Milwaukee’s most dynamic Indeed, it is the moon which has inspired performing arts companies are joining Lisa Schlenker’s haunting scenic design forces to present Carl Orff’s explosive and serves as the production’s predomi- , . Skylight is elated nant visual metaphor. Illuminated by to work with artists from Danceworks Fassl’s brilliant lighting, the moon serves as Performance Company, Milwaukee a timeless reminder of Fate’s ever- Theatre and Chant Claire Chamber changing whims. In contrast, Shima Orans’ to bring this magnificent work to life for the modern, urban costume design under- first time in our nearly 60-year history. scores the contemporary relevance of the cantata’s themes. Tying the visual and lin- Although Carmina is most often presented guistic elements together are a series of in the concert hall, Orff himself called it a projections which serve to augment and scenic cantata, consisting of “secular songs elucidate the action onstage. for singers and choruses to be sung with instruments and magical images.” Amid this evocative milieu, an intergenerational cast of 62 performers - It is in this spirit of interdisciplinary 17 Skylight artists, seven Danceworks collaboration that the creative team has dancers, four Chant Claire guest approached the production, conceptualiz- artists and 25 Chant Claire Chamber Choir ing the piece as “total theatre” in which members, will fill the Cabot stage. Joining IN THIS ISSUE , dance and text are inseparable.” them are six percussionists, two pianists, Skylight Artistic Associate and Carmina and one conductor, performing the thrilling Carl Orff Stage Director Jill Anna Ponasik describes score in a reduced chamber orchestration it this way: “Is it an opera? No. Is it a musi- by Orff’s protégé, Wilhelm Killmayer. English Translations cal? No. Is it a concert? No. It’s a once-in- a-lifetime event that unites theatre, dance, In true “Skylight style,” the clarity of the The Manuscript music, and visual images in performance.” action and immediacy of emotion will take precedence. Says Skylight Artistic Director The Wheel of Fortune Carmina Burana consists of 25 musical Ray Jivoff, “Audiences will be riveted by sections, the most famous being the this Carmina. Each musical moment is instantly recognizable, thundering choral connected to an action onstage.” Stage anthem “O ,” often used in televi- Director Ponasik elaborates: “Carmina will sion commercials and film scores. Each of speak to you in a way that is immediate, Carmina’s movements relates to the turn- direct and instantly relatable. We are bring- ing of Fate’s wheel and the unpredictability ing Carmina Burana up close and will see of the condition, touching on the full ourselves in the performers onstage. Their scope of existence from birth to death, and experiences are ours.” everything including joy to despair, love, fear, the seasons and the moon.

This guide is available online at skylightmusictheatre.org

Composer Carl Orff

Carl Orff was born on July 10, 1895 in to a musical family. He This production is generously showed an extraordinary proclivity for sponsored by creative endeavors from an early age, Jan Serr & John Shannon beginning lessons at five and and (with much assistance from his mother) writing his first novel at eight. As a child, he was enamored with theatrical performance and frequently staged puppet shows for his family. At sixteen, some of his first compositions, settings of German poetry, were pub- lished. It was also at this age that he Additional support for began to write large-scale works for Opening Weekend voice and , including a setting performances provided by of texts by Nietzsche and an opera in Herb Zien & Liz Levins. the style of Debussy. From 1912 to 1914, Orff attended the Academy of Music in Munich, where he found the curriculum old-fashioned and Carl Orff (1895-1982) Season Sponsors overly conservative. In 1917, he was drafted into military service, fighting in rise during the Third Reich: he kept his War I until he was nearly killed grandmother’s Jewish ancestry a in a trench collapse on the Eastern closely-guarded secret and composed Front. Debilitated and unable to music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream continue his service, he took positions after ’s music was as Music Director at the Court Theatre banned because he was Jewish. in and the National Theatre in . Following the conclusion of World War II, Orff was questioned by the Orff returned to Munich in 1919 where American authorities about his he shifted the focus of his education to possible connections to . In an intense study of the old master order to maintain his social standing in of the 16th and 17th postwar German society, he centuries. In 1924, he co-founded the fraudulently claimed that he had been Günther School, an educational a founding member of the institution specializing in dance, resistance movement, a claim that gymnastics and music. For the next could not be disproven since Kurt several years, Orff balanced teaching Huber, Orff’s one-time friend and the Research/Writing by and composition, but it was not until actual founder of the movement, had Daniel Brylow for ENLIGHTEN, 1937 that he achieved major success been executed in 1943. This lie was with the premiere of his magnum opus, Skylight Music Theatre’s especially ironic because Orff had Carmina Burana. Education Program previously refused Huber’s wife’s plea Orff married four times. His first wife, to use his influence with the Nazis to Edited by Ray Jivoff the actress Alice Solscher, bore his intervene on her husband’s behalf, an [email protected] only child, Godela, in 1921. His act which he came to deeply regret. second wife was the German music In his later life, Orff continued to therapist, Gertrud Willert; his third was compose, though none of his works the novelist . Orff attained Carmina’s popularity. He died remained married to his fourth wife, of cancer on March 29, 1982, aged 86. Liselotte Schmitz, until his death, after which she became the chairwoman of the Carl Orff Foundation for 24 years. 158 N. Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 A major point of controversy in Orff’s (414) 291-7811 life is his association with Nazism. www.skylightmusictheatre.org Though not a member of the party him- self, Orff is often considered to have been insufficiently resistant to Hitler’s

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The Orff Approach

Many composers excel in the realm of In addition to composing, Orff also List of Works by Orff purely instrumental music, but Orff’s developed a highly influential method Lamenti (adapted from Monteverdi) music always contains a theatrical of musical education known as The (1924/39) component. In the mid-1920s, he Orff Approach (). The Klage der Ariadne (1925/40) began to formulate the conception of basis of this approach stems from the Tanz der Spröden (1925/40) his aesthetic ideal: a unification of commonalities Orff discerned between music, theatre, visual arts, poetry and music, language, and movement, Entrata for orchestra, after dance in a single work of art. This which he described as “elemental.” "The " by (1928/41) concept, termed Theatrum Mundi, was The Approach consists primarily of an attempt to reinvigorate modern Orff Schulwerk (Learning Pieces) structured improvisations on special- Musik für Kinder (1930–35/1950–54) music by returning to the sensibilities ized instruments, many of which are Tanzstück (1933) of Greek , which employed a percussion due to Orff’s belief that similar synthesis of the arts. In this rhythm is a fundamental component of respect, Theatrum Mundi has much in human expression. Though the (“Triumphs”) common with Richard Wagner’s Carmina Burana (1937) Approach can be practiced by children notion of the Total Artwork and with of all skill levels, its kinesthetic nature (1943) very early opera, both of which also lends itself especially well to the (1953) emulated the Ancient Greek ideal. development of coordination and Märchenstücke (“Fairy tales”) Indeed, Orff’s most profound composi- motor skills in special needs children. (1939) tional influence is undoubtedly Claudio (1943) Today, the Orff Approach is taught Monteverdi, whose L’Orfeo (1607) is the Ein Sommernachtstraum (1952/62) around the world, with professional earliest opera still regularly performed associations in America and New today. Orff was also heavily influenced Bairisches Welttheate Zealand. Though there are slight by , and the similarities (Bavarian world theatre) differences in methodology, its between Carmina Burana and a work (1947) worldwide application is a testament like Stravinsky’s “opera-oratorio”, Astutuli (1953) to Orff’s belief in human potential: Comoedia de Christi Resurrectione (1956) Rex (1927) are striking: both as Orff himself put it, “Every human Ludus de Nato Infante Mirificus (1961) inhabit the middle ground between being has an artist inside them. This opera and concert piece, both make Theatrum Mundi (Total Theatre) possibility can either be encouraged or use of pared-down neoclassical (1949) destroyed. My guiding principle has harmonies to convey blunt emotions Oedipus der Tyrann (1959) always been to encourage.” with clarity, and, unusually for a 20th (1968) century work, both are sung in Latin – De temporum fine comoedia (1973/77) a language, in Stravinsky’s words, “not dead but turned to stone.”

Claudio Monteverdi, Orff’s most significant musical influence

Scenic design by Lisa Schlenker 2018-2019 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

English Translations UF DEM ANGER / IN THE MEADOW

I-PRIMO VERE / IN THE SPRING Floret silva The noble forest is in bloom. Veris leta facies Why is my lover gone so long? The happy face of Spring comes; He has ridden away. the army of Winter is conquered. Alas, who will love me? Praised by the sweet sound FORTUNA IMPERATRIX MUNDI / of the forest, Chramer, gip die varwe mir FORTUNE, EMPRESS OF THE WORLD Flora rules. Give me rouge for my cheeks, lies in her lap, to make young men love me covered with flowers. against their will. O Fortune, Virtuous men, like the ever-changing moon, The gentle West Wind breathes give your love to deserving women! you always wax and wane. nectar-scented breezes. Love ennobles your spirit Life is brutal, then pampers us. Let us rush to compete and bestows honor. Poverty, power, for love's prize. Hail, world, so rich in joys! it melts them like ice. I want to be your servant The sweet nightingale sings because your love is always certain. Fate, savage and empty, with harp-like tones. Look at me, young men! you are a whirling wheel. The serene meadows smile. Let me please you! Covered in shadows and veiled, A flock of birds rises up. you bear down upon me. The chorus of maidens Swaz hie gat umbe promises a thousand joys. All the dancing girls Now my back is naked through wish to spend Summer without men. the sport of your wickedness. Omnia sol temperat Come, my beloved! The chance of prosperity The sun warms everything. Sweet rose-colored mouth, is no longer mine: A young man hastens to love. come and make me well! Man is always The boy rules over him. beholden to Fortune’s whims. Spring’s rebirth bids us rejoice; Were diu werlt alle min And in the Spring of your life, If all the world were mine Without delay, pluck the strings! keep him who is yours. from the sea down to the Rhine, Since Fate strikes down the brave, I’d forsake the wide world’s charms join with me in lamentation! Love me faithfully! if the Queen of England would lie in Mark my loyalty! my arms. Fortunae plango vulnera I am with you. I mourn the blows of Fortune; even when I am far away. II—IN TABERNA / IN THE TAVERN she has taken back her gifts. Whoever loves in this way Opportunity is rightly described is turned on the wheel of torture. Estuans interius as having hair on her forehead, Burning inwardly with violent anger, but a bald patch follows on the back. I speak bitterly from my heart: Behold! created from the ashes of the earth, On Fortune’s throne I sat elated. Violet flowers fill the meadows; I am like a leaf blown by the winds, Now I have fallen from the sun brightens everything. never staying on the same course. the pinnacle, Now let sorrows depart! I am carried along deprived of my glory. like a ship without a captain. Summer returns Neither chains nor locks can hold me. The Wheel of Fortune turns; and Winter’s rage recedes. I seek men like myself I sink, debased. Snow and ice flow away and find only scoundrels. Another is raised up. and Spring sucks at the breast My heart’s heaviness burdens me; Let him beware of ruin! of Summer. jokes are sweeter than honeycomb. Whatever Venus orders is pleasant; Wretched is he who doesn’t frolic she never dwells in faint hearts. under Summer's right hand. Let us be at Venus’s command, I give myself over to vice, rejoicing at being the equals of Paris. unmindful of virtue. Dead in my soul, I attend to the needs of my flesh.

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Olim lacus colueram When I was a swan, I dwelled on lakes, I was beautiful. The spit turns round; I burn fiercely on my pyre; the waiter serves me. I lie on the tray and cannot fly; Si puer cum puellula I see the gnashing teeth. If a boy lingers with a girl in the cellar, Poor wretch! Black and well roasted! Love rises up, III - COUR D’AMOURS / and boredom is driven away. Ego sum abbas COURT OF LOVE A game beyond words begins: I am the Abbot of a game of arms, shoulders, lips. and my friends are the drunks and Amor volat undique gamblers. Whoever seeks me in the Love flies everywhere, Veni, veni, venias tavern will leave stripped of his seized by desire. Come! Don't let me die. clothes, he will cry: “You have taken Young men and women come together. Beautiful is your face, the gleam of the joy from our lives!” The girl without a lover your eyes, your hair! harbors the depths of night Redder than the rose, in her inmost heart. brighter than the lily, When we’re in the tavern, we don’t It is pure bitterness. you are my constant pride! think about dying; we gamble! Let’s see what happens here, Dies, nox, et omnia In trutina where money is king: Day, night, everything is against me. In the wavering scales of my heart, Some gamble, some drink, The maidens’ chattering lust and chastity hang in the balance. Some behave loosely; makes me weep and sigh. But I choose what I see some win clothes, some lose theirs. and submit my neck to the yoke; Everyone throws dice to win wine. O friends, make merry! to a yoke so sweet I yield. The boozers drink: Have mercy on me in my misery. first for the wine merchant, Tempus est iocundum then for prisoners, Your beauty makes me weep It is the time of joy! three times for the living, but your heart is ice. I am all aflower, all afire with love! four for Christians, One kiss would restore me to life. I am heartened by my promise; five for the departed, I am downcast by my refusal. six for sisters of loose virtue, Stetit puella In the winter, a man is sluggish; seven for the soldiers, A girl stood in a red dress. in spring, he is wanton. eight for the errant brethren, If anyone touched it, the dress rus- My innocence encourages me; nine for scattered monks, tled. my shyness holds me back. ten for sailors, A girl stood like a little rose. Come, my pretty! eleven for men quarrelling, Her face shone Already I die of love. twelve for those doing penance, and her mouth bloomed. thirteen for those on journeys. Dulcissime Mistress and master, Circa mea pectora Sweetest! soldier and cleric, Many tortuous sighs reside in my I give myself to you fully! man and woman, heart on account of your beauty. servant and maid, Your eyes shine BLANZIFLOR ET HELENA/ industrious and lazy, like a flash of lightning. BLANCHEFLOUR AND HELEN white and black, May the grant what I desire: adventurers and homebound, to unlock the bonds of her virginity. Ave formosissima fools and scholars, Send a message, send a message. Hail, fairest of women, precious jewel! the poor and the sick, My beloved does not come. Glory of maidens, noblest of maidens! the exile and stranger, Light of the world, rose of the world! Young and old, You are Blancheflour, Helen, Venus. bishop and deacon, Sister and brother, mother and crone: hundreds and thousands drink. Money goes too fast when everyone drinks without restraint. They sponge off us and makes us poor. Curse them!

2018-2019 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

The Manuscript

The manuscript which forms the basis to of Orff’s cantata is a collection of some 254 poems, dating from the , on themes ranging from the cruelty of Fate to the renewal of springtime. The title Carmina Burana, given by literary scholar Johann Andreas Schmeller as the designation of his 1847 edition, translates to “Songs of Beuern,” a reference to the site of the manuscript’s discovery. Taken collectively, the anthology stands as the most comprehensive surviving compendium of medieval lyric poetry in existence. The manuscript was discovered in Detail from a page of the Carmina Burana manuscript 1803 in the library of , the often-irreverent nature of its century, and the resulting collection, a monastery located in Upper contents, this distinctive format may for all its virtues, is jumbled and about forty miles south of Munich. It have been designed as an elaborate incomplete. was transferred to the Bavarian State visual pun. Library in Munich in 1806, where it Of particular note is the sheet that rests today. In 1870, a previously- Scattered throughout the manuscript presently serves as the undiscovered segment known as the are eight beautifully-rendered cover page: the famous poem, Fragmenta Burana, was unearthed by illustrations on topics pertinent to the “O Fortuna,” and its corresponding literary scholar Wilhelm Meyer. texts: The Wheel of Fortune; illustration, The Wheel of Fortune. a peaceful woodland scene; a young Formerly located elsewhere, the page The exact date of composition is not man presenting his lover with a flower; was likely given such a prominent known, but the poems appear to have a double-paneled illustration portray- position due to its thematic importance been written in the 11th or 12th to the ing two scenes from the Dido and and the grandeur of its illustration. 13th centuries. Likewise, though the and four tavern scenes, manuscript’s individual poets are When reconfigured in their original depicting men drinking, throwing dice, largely anonymous, its authorship is sequence, the poems can be grouped playing backgammon and playing generally regarded as a group of into four major sections by virtue of chess, respectively. clerics known as the . Highly their similar content: Moral and educated and critical of medieval It’s important to note that the Satirical Poetry, Songs of Love and institutions, the Goliards were sequence of poems as they are Nature, Gaming and Drinking Songs, wandering minstrels whose bawdy presently configured is not the order in and Religious . poetry subverted notions of which they were originally compiled. we associate with the Middle Ages. Rather, the current ordering was presumably completed when the Like the cantata, most of the volume was rebound in the 18th manuscript’s poetry is in Latin (the lingua franca of learned men at the time), with scattered fragments of Middle High German and Provençal, a now-archaic form of French. Marks designating stressed and unstressed syllables are present on every page, and about a quarter of the poems are accompanied by neumes, a form of rudimentary . It is a reasonable inference, then, that the manuscript was intended to be sung or read aloud. Indeed, from all outward appearances, the Carmina Burana manuscript resembles a breviary, the compilation of psalms and readings which were recited One of the eight illustrations in the Carmina Burana manuscript, this throughout the church year. But, due one depicting men playing chess AUDIENCE GUIDE | CARMINA BURANA

In 1934, Orff acquired a copy of the Schmeller edition of the manuscript, and was immediately riveted. Determined to compose a cantata using its poetry, he enlisted the aid of a friend, the law student and archivist Michel Hofmann. Together, they chose twenty-three poems to receive a musical setting (with two excerpts from one poem serving as the basis for two different movements in the cantata). Often, only a portion of a given poem was used, as in the case of “Veris leta facies,” in which three of the poem’s four stan- zas were musicalized, and “Dulcissime,” in which a single line of text forms the basis of an entire (albeit brief) musical movement. Furthermore, it appears that Orff was either unaware of or intentionally ignored the melodies as notated in the manuscript itself, and the resulting music he composed bears no resemblance to the plainchant which would have originally accompanied much of the manuscript’s poetry. When assembling the poems into a , Orff and Hofmann made significant structural changes, cutting, pasting, and rearranging to suit their preferred musical and dramatic trajectories. The finished product is comprised of five major sections: Fortune, Empress of the World; In the Spring/In the Meadow; In the Tavern; Court of Love/ Blancheflour and Helen; and a reprise A forest with birds in the top panel of Fortune, Empress of the World. and land-dwelling animals in the bottom. The opening, Fortune, Empress of the World, consists of two of the manuscript’s Moral and Satirical poems. In the Spring contains texts from the section on Love and Nature (with the exception of “Chramer, gip die varwe mir,” which is derived from a speech given by Mary Magdalene in the manuscript’s Religious Dramas). In the Tavern unsurprisingly draws heavily from the Drinking and Gaming section of the manuscript (with the exception of “Olim lacus colueram,” repurposed from Love and Nature). In Court of Love, Orff returns to the poems on Love and Nature, followed by a concluding reprise of the cantata’s first movement, “O Fortuna.”

A pair of lovers, wedged sideways between two lines of poetry 2018-2019 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

Rota Fortunae: The Wheel of Fortune

The Rota Fortunae, or Wheel of The Rota Fortunae appears frequently Musically, Orff’s pervasive use of Fortune, is a widespread aesthetic in the Carmina Burana manuscript, but abrupt dynamic shifts from piano to motif that appears in many works of art Orff further heightened its significance forte and back again recalls the erratic and literature from antiquity to the by virtue of its placement within the nature of Fate’s fluctuations. And medieval era and beyond, symbolizing cantata’s structure: two of the poems though the Wheel is only one of many the unpredictable and often volatile which describe the turning of Fate’s symbols found in the cantata, the nature of Fate. Wheel in explicit detail, “O Fortuna” shattering musical language used to and “Fortunae plango vulnera,” form evoke its ferocity attests to its power to The concept likely originated in Baby- the textual basis of Carmina’s first, shape our destines from birth to death lon, but also appears in India, and was second, and final movements. and everything in between. later developed in Ancient Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages, the trope found its way into the works of such diverse artists and writers as Dante (c. 1265-1321), Boccaccio (1313- 1375), Chaucer (1343-1400) and Jean

Miélot (?-1472), as well as inspiring the tenth trump card of the Tarot deck. In most incarnations, a woman, representing Fortuna (the Roman goddess of Fate) or (her Greek equivalent), is depicted spinning a wheel which controls the of humankind. In the illustration found in the Carmina Burana manuscript, the Wheel has four sides – regno (I reign) at the top, regnavi (I have reigned) descending, sum sine regno (I am without a king- dom) at the bottom, and regnabo (I will reign) ascending – representing various stages of human fortune or misfortune, as the case may be. Artists and writers in medieval times preferred to focus on the Wheel’s negative aspects, cautioning that the potential for disaster was omnipresent, even for those at the top. The Wheel of Fortune illustration from the Carmina manuscript

The Wheel of Fortune as depicted in various Tarot decks AUDIENCE GUIDE | CARMINA BURANA