Carmina Burana "Songs of Beuren"
I had heard this music many times in movie trailers before I knew what it was called. Composed in 1936 by Munich-based composer/instructor Carl Orff (1895-1982), Carmina Burana is based on goliardic1 secular Latin poetry of the 12th century. Most of the lyrics are Latin, but some are German.
The poems deal with everyday (hence, the secular tag) 12th century affairs such as courtship, merriment, gaming, eating, drinking (alcohol was first distilled from wine at Salerno around this time), and other general life activities. The 12th century was the age of the Gothic - think of the stories of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Acquitaine and Thomas à Becket, and of the flying buttresses of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The most well-known section of Carmina Burana is "O Fortuna" - Lady Luck, as we might say. Here's the Stuffed Animal Chorus (photo coming soon!) singing a small snippet...
We have a friend who sings with the Seattle Choral Company. They've done a wonderful recording of Carmina Burana!
An amusing note about this piece is that although it is used most often in movie soundtracks as a dramatic back piece, it is actually a funny song. Mostly recently it was used as the backdrop for an Australian beverage ad (filmed in New Zealand).
And for those of you who like to sing along, here's the lyrics!
O Fortuna
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 cordum pulsum tangite; quod per sortem sternit fortem, mecum omnes plangite!
(Translation)
O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice.
Fate - monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is in vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy.
Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved. So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the strong man, everyone weep with me!
1Goliards were self-described "defrocked monks and minstrels"; others saw them as a rowdy, gambling, drunken bunch of vagrants.