”It was simply pure luck and happenstance that led me to a catalog of Würzburg antiquities, in which I found a piece that drew me with a magical force: Carmina Burana, containing poetry and ballads in Latin and German from a Benediktbeuern manuscript, published by J. A. Schmeller.”
It was just by chance that these manuscripts came into the hands of Carl Orff, who was so fascinated by the encounter with these texts that he later recalled being immediately overwhelmed by images and sounds, and ended up outlining the first chorus ‘O Fortuna’ (O Fortune) the very same day. A 38 year old composer at the time, he was inspired by the 13th century Latin, Middle High German, and old French goliardic poetry and verses named after the discovery site, the Benedictine abbey in Benediktbeuern.
Orff created three ‘magical images’ based on these texts: Primo vere (springtime) and Uf dem Ange (on the meadow) embodying the emergence of spring, the idyll of nature and the pleasure of love; The 2nd part, In Taberna (in the tavern), shows loving, joking, and frolicking humans, while the 3rd part, Cour d’amour (court of love), depicts the triumph of Cupid and Eros, a gallant festival of love. The Lady Luck (Fortuna) wheel of fortune is the main symbol encompassing the whole work. The ‘Fortune choir’ provides the music for the songs extolling the existence of mankind. In August 1936, Orff completed a fair copy of the score, without any notes on stage presentation. In Carmina Burana, Orff discovered his own musical style, since the middle age texts inspired him towards totally sensuous music with highly simplified rhythmics and harmonics. The first performance was delayed in a Germany, at the time a nation in which National Socialism had just taken a foothold. The music was labeled as non-German and the Latin texts with their offensive contents were enough to put Orff and his works in a bad light. This ”Bavarian Nigger Music” was not welcomed in the Reichsmusikkammer (musical chambers of the Reich). Nevertheless, lacking any specific prohibition, in 1939 it was staged in Bielefeld and Frankfurt.
MISA CRIOLLA
MISA CRIOLLA, a Creole mass by the South American composer Ariel Ramirez, contains five movements – the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, which synthesize the Argentine, Peruvian, and Bolivian worlds of sounds. In 1963, the liturgical commission approved a Castilian text as accompaniment for the mass.
The ensemble is comprised of a soloist, a choir, and an instrumental group made up of the charango (a pentagonal guitar), the quena (a peasant flute), the siku (Bolivian pan-flute), and a large number of regional percussion instruments. The Kyrie, composed in Andean rhythms, leads the listener into the breadth, loneliness, and aridity of the plateau. The Gloria, on the contrary, utilizes the carnavelito style of the Argentine carnaval, and presents dances in a 2/4 rhythm widely seen on the plateaus of northwestern Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. The Credo draws upon a rhythm stemming from the northern Argentine province of Santiago del Estero, origin of the chacarera truncata style. The carnaval motif underlies the Sanctus, but this time in a triple time rhythm and a major key – a Bolivian aesthetic style. The closing Agnus Dei, the prayer for peace, is composed in the lyrical style of the Pampas – estilo pampeano.
The first performance of MISA CRIOLLA was held on March 16, 1967 in the Rheinhalle, Düsseldorf.
