© Julia Sellmann
Carmina Burana
Program
Carl Orff
Carmina Burana
1934–36
Cast
Annija Adamsone
soprano
Michael Schade
tenor
Michael Nagy
baritone
Chamber Choir of the University of Cologne
Dates
It might turn faster or slower, it might stop altogether, but then suddenly accelerate – the wheel of fortune has no set speed; the goddess Fortuna does exactly as she pleases. This unchangeable truth is one humans must learn to accept. It’s the reason Carl Orff once called his greatest hit, Carmina Burana, his »darkest piece«. In this monumental setting of thousand-year-old texts from the library of the Benediktbeuren monastery, he laments the transience of life with an unerring instinct for effects, while also celebrating its joys with unbridled verve: love and laughter, dancing and gambling, inebriation and excess. An orchestra of opulent proportions under the baton of the newly-appointed Gürzenich Kapellmeister Andrés Orozco-Estrada plays springtime dances and accompanies the lamentations of a roast swan about its ruined beauty. The main protagonist in this abundantly sensuous reel of images, however, is the Cologne Citizens’ Chorus, praising Fortuna, empress of the world, and sending brimming tankards circulating through the tavern.
