Carmina Burana – Hollywood Bowl

Whenever I have to describe Carmina Burana to any Indian I meet I always tell them….do you remember the old spice commercial that used to have that amazing music in the background….that was the main theme of carmina burana…..here are the translations to the piece and im sure none of us would be able to understand why it was used in an aftershave commercial….

O Fortuna (Chorus) O Fortune

O Fortuna                           O Fortune,
velut luna                          like the moon
statu variabilis,                   you are changeable,
semper crescis                      ever waxing
aut decrescis;                      and waning;
vita detestabilis                   hateful life
nunc obdurat                        first oppresses
et tunc curat                       and then soothes
ludo mentis aciem,                  as fancy takes it;
egestatem,                          poverty
potestatem                          and power
dissolvit ut glaciem.               it melts them like ice.

Sors immanis                        Fate - monstrous
et inanis,                          and empty,
rota tu volubilis,                  you whirling wheel,
status malus,                       you are malevolent,
vana salus                          well-being is vain
semper dissolubilis,                and always fades to nothing,
obumbrata                           shadowed
et velata                           and veiled
michi quoque niteris;               you plague me too;
nunc per ludum                      now through the game
dorsum nudum                        I bring my bare back
fero tui sceleris.                  to your villainy.

Sors salutis                        Fate is against me
et virtutis                         in health
michi nunc contraria,               and virtue,
est affectus                        driven on
et defectus                         and weighted down,
semper in angaria.                  always enslaved.
Hac in hora                         So at this hour
sine mora                           without delay
corde pulsum tangite;               pluck the vibrating strings;
quod per sortem                     since Fate
sternit fortem,                     strikes down the string man,
mecum omnes plangite!               everyone weep with me!

A more "sensible" translation would be

O Fortune, like the moon of ever changing state, you are always waxing or waning; hateful life now is brutal, now pampers our feelings with its game; poverty, power, it melts them like ice.

Fate, savage and empty, you are a turning wheel, your position is uncertain, your favour is idle and always likely to disappear; covered in shadows and veiled you bear upon me too; now my back is naked through the sport of your wickedness.

The chance of prosperity and of virtue is not now mine; whether willing or not, a man is always liable for Fortune’s service. At this hour without delay touch the strings! Because through luck she lays low the brave, all join with me in lamentation!

The language is latin...The name Carmina Burana might not sound latin but its better than the name :

Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis

OR

Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images

Carmina Burana is structured into five major sections each of which contains several individual movements :

• Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi [Fortuna, Empress of the World]
• Primo vere [Spring] – includes the internal scene Uf dem Anger [In the Meadow]
• In Taberna [In the Tavern]
• Cours d’amours [Court of Love]
• Blanziflor et Helena [Blanziflor and Helena]

Within each scene, and sometimes within a single movement, the wheel of fortune turns, joy turning to bitterness, and hope turning to grief. And it closes with the theme O fortuna which is the same as the beginning therefore completing the movement of the wheel.

~ by lazysud on September 15, 2006.