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O Fortuna

April 26, 2024

For the Rhydian Roberts album, see O Fortuna (album).

"O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem which is part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana, written in the early 13th century. It is a complaint about Fortuna, the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman and Greek mythology.

"O Fortuna" in the Carmina Burana manuscript (Bavarian State Library; the poem occupies the last six lines on the page, along with the overrun at bottom right.

In 1935–36, "O Fortuna" was set to music by German composer Carl Orff as a part of "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi", the opening and closing movement of his cantata Carmina Burana. It was first staged by the Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937. It opens at a slow pace with thumping drums and choir that drops quickly into a whisper, building slowly in a steady crescendo of drums and short string and horn notes peaking on one last long powerful note and ending abruptly. The tone is modal, until the last nine bars. A performance takes a little over two and a half minutes.

Orff's setting of the poem has influenced and been used in many other works and has been performed by numerous classical music ensembles and popular artists. It can be heard in numerous films and television commercials, and has become a staple in western popular culture, setting the mood for dramatic or cataclysmic situations. "O Fortuna" topped The People's Classical Chart in 2009 as the most-played classical music of the previous 75 years in the United Kingdom.[1]

History edit

Benediktbeuern manuscript edit

Main article: Carmina Burana

"O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem written in the 13th century of uncertain authorship.[2] It is a complaint against the goddess of fortune, contained in the collection known as the Carmina Burana.

Orff's setting edit

 
"O Fortuna" (30 seconds)
Orff's setting
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Main article: O Fortuna (Orff)

Carl Orff encountered the collection in 1934 and worked with a Latin and Greek enthusiast, Michel Hofmann, to select and organize 24 of the poems into a libretto. Orff composed his Carmina Burana, using the libretto, in 1935-36. It was first performed by the Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937. The cantata is composed of 25 movements in five sections, with "O Fortuna" providing a compositional frame, appearing as the first movement and reprised for the twenty-fifth, both in sections titled "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" (Fortune, Empress of the World).

Text edit

Scott Horton wrote in Harper's that the text of the poem highlights how few people, at the time it was written, "felt any control over their own destiny" while at the same time it "rings with a passion for life, a demand to seize and treasure the sweet moments that pitiful human existence affords."[2]

Music edit

Orff was inspired both by the poem and the medieval symbol of the Rota Fortunae, or Wheel of Fortune, which the goddess Fortuna spins at random, causing some people to suffer while others find wealth. The Rota Fortunae appears in a version of the poetry collection known as the Codex Buranas. The repetition of the musical accompaniment draws a comparison to the spinning of the wheel.[4][5]

"O Fortuna" opens at a slow pace with thumping drums and energetic choir that drops quickly into a whisper, building slowly in a steady crescendo of drums and short string and horn notes peaking on one last long powerful note and ending abruptly. Conductor Marin Alsop wrote that it "begins with all forces at full throttle, then immediately scale[s] back in an ominous warning repetition that builds to a climactic close".[6] The tone is modal, with melody built around a tonal center, until the last nine bars. The last syllable of the song shifts in both key and emotional valence, from D minor to D major.[4]

Alsop describes the piece as "a spectacle" which appeals to all of the senses, intentionally defying neat categorization.[7] According to David Clem, "the music signifies the upturn of Fortune's wheel, while the text represents the downturn."[4]

Reception edit

Carmina Burana was successful from its first staging by the Frankfurt Opera in 1937, propelling Orff's career and becoming his best known work.[2] "O Fortuna" in particular has become one of the most recognizable compositions in popular culture. In 2009, it topped a BBC list of most widely heard classical tracks, with BBC Radio 2 head of programming calling it "a timeless piece of music that continues to be played, performed and loved over 70 years after its composition."[8] A Radio Netherlands documentary attributes its popular appeal to the combination of choruses, large orchestra, interesting instrument combinations, tight rhythm, and the extent to which it is singable and memorable.[9] Horton calls it "a work of brilliance" that "may have been spoiled by its popularization", used "often as a jingle, detached in any meaningful way from its powerful message".[10]

In The Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising, Clem highlights how the poem's themes like human struggle and fate are commonly divorced from popular usage. He takes as an example the use of the music in an Applebee's advertisement which changes the words to be about a new promotion, drawing on the arrangement simply for its signification of the vernacular concept of "epic" (an "epic deal").[4] Widespread use of "O Fortuna" in advertising and other forms of popular culture may have begun with the trailer for the 1981 movie Excalibur, which uses the song in its entirety.[4]

"O Fortuna" has been called "the most overused piece of music in film history",[11] and Harper's Magazine columnist Scott Horton has commented that "Orff's setting may have been spoiled by its popularization" and its use "in movies and commercials often as a jingle, detached in any meaningful way from its powerful message."[12] Its contemporary usage is often joking or satirical in nature (e.g. its use in the 2009 episode "Gone Maggie Gone" of The Simpsons), owing to its oversaturation in popular culture.[citation needed]

The composition appears in numerous films and television commercials[13] and has become a staple in popular culture, setting the mood for dramatic or cataclysmic situations.[14][better source needed] For instance, it is used to portray the torment of Jim Morrison's drug addiction in the film The Doors.[15][user-generated source] In 1983, Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek released his third solo album, Carmina Burana, which is an interpretation of the piece in a contemporary framework.[citation needed]

In the 1970s, the "O Fortuna" music was used for an Old Spice commercial which aired in the United Kingdom. The trailer of John Boorman's Excalibur (1981) featured "O Fortuna" in its entirety.[16] It has been covered, remixed, and sampled in a wide variety of popular musical acts like Therion and Nas.[7][17]

Recordings edit

See also: Carmina Burana (Orff) § Notable recordings
Recordings of "O Fortuna" as stand-alone piece
Recorded Conductor Orchestra Choir Time Release
25 October 1991 Robert Groslot [nl] Il Novecento Proms choir 2:28 Night Of The Proms, Vol. 6[18]
28 October 2009 Trans-Siberian Orchestra Trans-Siberian Orchestra choir 2:44 Night Castle, disc 2, track 12
4 May 2020 Martina Batič [sl] Chœur de Radio France [fr] 2:05 France Musique[19]

References edit

  1. ^ "Most played classical music of the past 75 years". BBC News. 28 December 2009.
  2. ^ a b c Horton, Scott (2008-09-07). "O Fortuna!". Harper's. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  3. ^ "Carmina Burana – O Fortuna", Classical Net. Accessed 30 July 2018
  4. ^ a b c d e Clem 2021.
  5. ^ Stein, Jack M. (Summer 1977). ""Carmina Burana" and Carl Orff". Monatshefte. 69 (2): 121–130. ISSN 0026-9271. JSTOR 30156812.
  6. ^ Alsop, Marin (November 11, 2006). "Love, Lust and Drinking Stir 'Carmina'". NPR Music. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  7. ^ a b "The Lasting Appeal of Orff's 'Carmina Burana'". Weekend Edition Sunday. NPR. November 11, 2006. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  8. ^ "O Fortuna is 'most listened to'". BBC News. 2009-12-28. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  9. ^ "The story of the Carmina Burana". Radio Netherlands Archives. 2004-12-19. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  10. ^ Scott Horton (September 7, 2008). "O Fortuna!". Harper's. from the original on 2021-04-20.
  11. ^ Jeff Bond, Review of Mission Impossible 2 January 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Film Score Monthly, July 2000, p. 35.
  12. ^ Horton, Scott (September 7, 2008). "O Fortuna!". Harper's.
  13. ^ Eric Friesen, "Carmina Burana: The Big Mac of Classical Music?" 2018-11-25 at the Wayback Machine, Queen's Quarterly, Summer 2011
  14. ^ . Kickass Classical forums. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  15. ^ IMDB entry for soundtrack of Oliver Stone's film The Doors[unreliable source?]
  16. ^ Clem 2021, p. 492.
  17. ^ Powers, Ann (1999-06-14). "Not Medieval but Eternal; In Its Sixth Decade, 'Carmina Burana' Still Echoes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  18. ^ JK60397 at Muziekweb website
  19. ^ "'O Fortuna' - Carmina Burana par le Choeur de Radio France". France Musique (in French). 4 May 2020. 1:11–3:16.

Sources edit

  • Clem, David (2021). "Medievalism goes Commercial: The Epic as Register in Contemporary Media". In Deaville, James [at Wikidata]; Tan, Siu-Lan; Rodman, Ron (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising. Oxford University Press. pp. 488–504. ISBN 9780190691240. OCLC 1195817243.

Further reading edit

  • Hasenmiller, Alaina (11 April 2013). . Phoenix Chorale. Music from the Silver Screen. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  • Haug, Walter [in German] (1995). "O Fortuna: Eine historisch-semantische Skizze zur Einführung". In Haug, Walter; Wachinger, Burghart [in German] (eds.). Fortuna. Fortuna Vitrea (in German). Vol. 15. Max Niemeyer. pp. 1–22. doi:10.1515/9783110949414-002. ISBN 3-484-15515-9.
  • Stevenson, Cait (31 July 2017). "O Fortuna: The story of one [of] the great poems (and songs) of the Middle Ages". The Medieval Magazine. Vol. 3, no. 13. medievalists.net.

External links edit

  •   Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article: Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi
  • "O Fortuna", at David Parlett's translation of the Carmina Burana

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April 26, 2024
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For the Rhydian Roberts album see O Fortuna album O Fortuna is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem which is part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana written in the early 13th century It is a complaint about Fortuna the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman and Greek mythology O Fortuna in the Carmina Burana manuscript Bavarian State Library the poem occupies the last six lines on the page along with the overrun at bottom right In 1935 36 O Fortuna was set to music by German composer Carl Orff as a part of Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi the opening and closing movement of his cantata Carmina Burana It was first staged by the Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937 It opens at a slow pace with thumping drums and choir that drops quickly into a whisper building slowly in a steady crescendo of drums and short string and horn notes peaking on one last long powerful note and ending abruptly The tone is modal until the last nine bars A performance takes a little over two and a half minutes Orff s setting of the poem has influenced and been used in many other works and has been performed by numerous classical music ensembles and popular artists It can be heard in numerous films and television commercials and has become a staple in western popular culture setting the mood for dramatic or cataclysmic situations O Fortuna topped The People s Classical Chart in 2009 as the most played classical music of the previous 75 years in the United Kingdom 1 Contents 1 History 1 1 Benediktbeuern manuscript 1 2 Orff s setting 2 Text 3 Music 4 Reception 5 Recordings 6 References 7 Sources 8 Further reading 9 External linksHistory editBenediktbeuern manuscript edit Main article Carmina Burana O Fortuna is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem written in the 13th century of uncertain authorship 2 It is a complaint against the goddess of fortune contained in the collection known as the Carmina Burana Orff s setting edit nbsp O Fortuna 30 seconds source source Orff s setting Problems playing this file See media help Main article O Fortuna Orff Carl Orff encountered the collection in 1934 and worked with a Latin and Greek enthusiast Michel Hofmann to select and organize 24 of the poems into a libretto Orff composed his Carmina Burana using the libretto in 1935 36 It was first performed by the Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937 The cantata is composed of 25 movements in five sections with O Fortuna providing a compositional frame appearing as the first movement and reprised for the twenty fifth both in sections titled Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi Fortune Empress of the World Text editScott Horton wrote in Harper s that the text of the poem highlights how few people at the time it was written felt any control over their own destiny while at the same time it rings with a passion for life a demand to seize and treasure the sweet moments that pitiful human existence affords 2 O Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis semper crescis aut decrescis vita detestabilis nunc obdurat et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem egestatem potestatem dissolvit ut glaciem Sors immanis et inanis rota tu volubilis status malus vana salus semper dissolubilis obumbrata et velata michi quoque niteris nunc per ludum dorsum nudum fero tui sceleris Sors salutis et virtutis michi nunc contraria est affectus et defectus semper in angaria Hac in hora sine mora corde pulsum tangite quod per sortem sternit fortem mecum omnes plangite O Fortune like the moon you are changeable ever waxing ever waning hateful life first oppresses and then soothes playing with mental clarity poverty and power it melts them like ice Fate monstrous and empty you whirling wheel you are malevolent devoid of security and ever fading to nothing shadowed and veiled you plague me too now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy Fate in health and virtue is against me driven on and weighted down always enslaved So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings since Fate strikes down the strong everyone weep with me 3 Music editOrff was inspired both by the poem and the medieval symbol of the Rota Fortunae or Wheel of Fortune which the goddess Fortuna spins at random causing some people to suffer while others find wealth The Rota Fortunae appears in a version of the poetry collection known as the Codex Buranas The repetition of the musical accompaniment draws a comparison to the spinning of the wheel 4 5 O Fortuna opens at a slow pace with thumping drums and energetic choir that drops quickly into a whisper building slowly in a steady crescendo of drums and short string and horn notes peaking on one last long powerful note and ending abruptly Conductor Marin Alsop wrote that it begins with all forces at full throttle then immediately scale s back in an ominous warning repetition that builds to a climactic close 6 The tone is modal with melody built around a tonal center until the last nine bars The last syllable of the song shifts in both key and emotional valence from D minor to D major 4 Alsop describes the piece as a spectacle which appeals to all of the senses intentionally defying neat categorization 7 According to David Clem the music signifies the upturn of Fortune s wheel while the text represents the downturn 4 Reception editCarmina Burana was successful from its first staging by the Frankfurt Opera in 1937 propelling Orff s career and becoming his best known work 2 O Fortuna in particular has become one of the most recognizable compositions in popular culture In 2009 it topped a BBC list of most widely heard classical tracks with BBC Radio 2 head of programming calling it a timeless piece of music that continues to be played performed and loved over 70 years after its composition 8 A Radio Netherlands documentary attributes its popular appeal to the combination of choruses large orchestra interesting instrument combinations tight rhythm and the extent to which it is singable and memorable 9 Horton calls it a work of brilliance that may have been spoiled by its popularization used often as a jingle detached in any meaningful way from its powerful message 10 In The Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising Clem highlights how the poem s themes like human struggle and fate are commonly divorced from popular usage He takes as an example the use of the music in an Applebee s advertisement which changes the words to be about a new promotion drawing on the arrangement simply for its signification of the vernacular concept of epic an epic deal 4 Widespread use of O Fortuna in advertising and other forms of popular culture may have begun with the trailer for the 1981 movie Excalibur which uses the song in its entirety 4 O Fortuna has been called the most overused piece of music in film history 11 and Harper s Magazine columnist Scott Horton has commented that Orff s setting may have been spoiled by its popularization and its use in movies and commercials often as a jingle detached in any meaningful way from its powerful message 12 Its contemporary usage is often joking or satirical in nature e g its use in the 2009 episode Gone Maggie Gone of The Simpsons owing to its oversaturation in popular culture citation needed The composition appears in numerous films and television commercials 13 and has become a staple in popular culture setting the mood for dramatic or cataclysmic situations 14 better source needed For instance it is used to portray the torment of Jim Morrison s drug addiction in the film The Doors 15 user generated source In 1983 Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek released his third solo album Carmina Burana which is an interpretation of the piece in a contemporary framework citation needed In the 1970s the O Fortuna music was used for an Old Spice commercial which aired in the United Kingdom The trailer of John Boorman s Excalibur 1981 featured O Fortuna in its entirety 16 It has been covered remixed and sampled in a wide variety of popular musical acts like Therion and Nas 7 17 Recordings editSee also Carmina Burana Orff Notable recordings Recordings of O Fortuna as stand alone piece Recorded Conductor Orchestra Choir Time Release 25 October 1991 Robert Groslot nl Il Novecento Proms choir 2 28 Night Of The Proms Vol 6 18 28 October 2009 Trans Siberian Orchestra Trans Siberian Orchestra choir 2 44 Night Castle disc 2 track 12 4 May 2020 Martina Batic sl Chœur de Radio France fr 2 05 France Musique 19 References edit Most played classical music of the past 75 years BBC News 28 December 2009 a b c Horton Scott 2008 09 07 O Fortuna Harper s Retrieved 2021 04 18 Carmina Burana O Fortuna Classical Net Accessed 30 July 2018 a b c d e Clem 2021 Stein Jack M Summer 1977 Carmina Burana and Carl Orff Monatshefte 69 2 121 130 ISSN 0026 9271 JSTOR 30156812 Alsop Marin November 11 2006 Love Lust and Drinking Stir Carmina NPR Music Retrieved 2021 04 18 a b The Lasting Appeal of Orff s Carmina Burana Weekend Edition Sunday NPR November 11 2006 Retrieved 2021 04 18 O Fortuna is most listened to BBC News 2009 12 28 Retrieved 2021 04 18 The story of the Carmina Burana Radio Netherlands Archives 2004 12 19 Retrieved 2021 04 18 Scott Horton September 7 2008 O Fortuna Harper s Archived from the original on 2021 04 20 Jeff Bond Review of Mission Impossible 2 Archived January 8 2014 at the Wayback Machine Film Score Monthly July 2000 p 35 Horton Scott September 7 2008 O Fortuna Harper s Eric Friesen Carmina Burana The Big Mac of Classical Music Archived 2018 11 25 at the Wayback Machine Queen s Quarterly Summer 2011 The Answer Is Almost Always O Fortuna Kickass Classical forums Archived from the original on 24 September 2020 Retrieved 24 November 2018 IMDB entry for soundtrack of Oliver Stone s film The Doors unreliable source Clem 2021 p 492 Powers Ann 1999 06 14 Not Medieval but Eternal In Its Sixth Decade Carmina Burana Still Echoes The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2021 04 18 JK60397 at Muziekweb website O Fortuna Carmina Burana par le Choeur de Radio France France Musique in French 4 May 2020 1 11 3 16 Sources editClem David 2021 Medievalism goes Commercial The Epic as Register in Contemporary Media In Deaville James at Wikidata Tan Siu Lan Rodman Ron eds The Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising Oxford University Press pp 488 504 ISBN 9780190691240 OCLC 1195817243 Further reading editHasenmiller Alaina 11 April 2013 Behind the Music O Fortuna Phoenix Chorale Music from the Silver Screen Archived from the original on 4 July 2022 Retrieved 19 April 2021 Haug Walter in German 1995 O Fortuna Eine historisch semantische Skizze zur Einfuhrung In Haug Walter Wachinger Burghart in German eds Fortuna Fortuna Vitrea in German Vol 15 Max Niemeyer pp 1 22 doi 10 1515 9783110949414 002 ISBN 3 484 15515 9 Stevenson Cait 31 July 2017 O Fortuna The story of one of the great poems and songs of the Middle Ages The Medieval Magazine Vol 3 no 13 medievalists net External links edit nbsp Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi O Fortuna at David Parlett s translation of the Carmina Burana Portal nbsp Classical music Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title O Fortuna amp oldid 1216595937, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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