Themes of the Carmina Burana: Medieval and Modern

Stephen Metzger HAB Capstone Thesis

1 April 2004

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Introduction

In the early 1930s, the German composer Carl Orff searched for a text for which he could

write a choral cycle. His endeavors led him to the Carmina Burana, the largest collection of

medieval secular Latin poetry from the thirteenth century. As a result of his accomplishment, a

question arises whether Orff was true to thematic elements in the manuscript itself or whether he

gave those medieval melodies a thoroughly modern meaning. By looking at the structure of the

manuscript with an eye to the thematic arrangement of the poems therein, it becomes evident that

Orff maintains the theme of the fickle nature of Fortune.

This analysis is divided into four parts. It starts with a brief survey of the historical

development of Latin lyric poetry in order to give the reader some context as to the influences on

the poetry in the codex. The paper will then move into a discussion of Carl Orff and his music,

giving a brief biography and also a discussion of his relationship with the Nazi party. The last

two sections are the most important. The third chapter deals with the history of the manuscript,

followed by a discussion and explanation of six poems, five of which are present in various ways

in the musical composition of Carl Orff. The paper will finish with an investigation of the

music. This will be followed by a comparison of the piece with the manuscript as a whole and

the poems selected.

The purpose of all four sections is to show that there is a specific thematic structure to

both the manuscript as a whole and the music Orff composed. The idea of the capricious nature

of the goddess Fortuna is present in both works. While scholars admit that the manuscript of the

Carmina Burana is arranged in thematic sections, this paper posits that the theme of fickle

Fortune binds those three parts together as one. Similarly, an analysis of Orff’s score

demonstrates that he saw such a plan in the manuscript.

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This investigation therefore assumes that medieval manuscripts were compiled not ad

hoc, which continues to be the prevalent opinion in the field of paleography, but that the editor of

the text collected a variety of poems from all across Europe and placed them with a definite

order in mind. This paper acknowledges paleographic evidence that asserts that the codex as we

have it today was not completed in a day or even one year. By emphasizing the pervasive

appearance of the fickleness of Fortune throughout the entire text, however, the editors of the

manuscript were able to give the piece a particular order. The illuminations sustain this

assumption. Furthermore, the thematic meaning of the poems themselves provides the most

significant evidence for the idea of a thematic structure to the entire codex.

Whenever a discussion of the works of Carl Orff occurs, a question always arises as to

the nature of his political beliefs between the years 1933-45. Orff was an artist working in

Germany and the Carmina Burana premiered during the reign of Adolf Hitler, and these facts

demand an assessment of the extent the ideological tenets of Nazism influenced the piece. This

paper will attempt to show that while Orff neither participated in nor openly opposed the

political ideas of the Nazis, his Carmina Burana is devoid of any stain of National Socialism. It

is not a piece of Aryan propaganda, but rather a true setting of the themes present in the

manuscript itself and the Latin and German poems in particular.

I. Medieval Latin lyric poetry

Poetry provides a foundation for the history of Western literature, and sung verse

constitutes one of the oldest forms of human expression.1 A common misconception believes

that the period from the decline of Rome in the West to the Renaissance was devoid of culture or

1 Herodotus wrote his Histories in 440 BC in prose. This was roughly four centuries after scholars believe the Iliad and the Odyssey were written down for the first time. (Martin 4.6).

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any form of literary expression. The dearth of surviving texts from the early Middle Ages allows

such a conclusion to be drawn, though careful research paints a far different picture. A wealth of

literary creativity existed in the Middle Ages, as the emergence of a secular Latin lyric

illustrates. The secular Latin poetry that appears in the Middle Ages rests upon an abundant

poetic tradition. The scholars at monastic schools and universities who composed these verses

were acquainted with both an oral and written tradition of poetry.2 The poetry they penned

reflects the converging influences that spurred its growth.

The classical tradition provided a significant influence on the development of medieval

poetry. Homer composed in verse not only because it was the proper medium in which to

discuss divine events, but also because it allowed for easy memorization. Memorization became

central to the oral tradition.3 Poetry transmitted the beliefs of Greek culture.4 Plato writes

against this monopoly of the poets on the ethical values of the Greeks in his Republic.5 A similar

tradition, associated with the Old English epic Beowulf, will be discussed later. Poetry grows

from beginnings such as these and the oral-based sources make particular developments

impossible to trace in detail.

The Middle Ages received ancient literary tradition through the Romans whom the

Greeks influenced greatly. This fact prompted F.J.E. Raby in his monumental and influential

work Secular Latin Poetry to posit that all of Western verse comes under “Oriental” influence.

This included Greek literature for Raby since Homer came from Asia Minor.6 The Romans drew

extensively from the Greeks, seen most notably in Virgil’s Aeneid, a poem that had a lasting

impact on the Middle Ages. Catullus drew from Greek predecessors such as Sappho. Ovid, also,

2 Wolf 75. 3 Havelock 11. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. Plato criticizes the writings of Hesiod and Homer from 377b to 383c at the end of Book II. 6 Raby 4.

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enters into the fray with his Metamorphoses, taking Greek myths and transposing them into

Roman forms. Ovid’s imagery, thoughts, and diction significantly influenced the development

of medieval lyric partly because he was one of the few authors to see many of his works survive

to influence the Middle Ages.7 The history of Latin poetry is extensive and the poets are

numerous. All leave a certain legacy to the medieval world, but none more so than Virgil and

Ovid.8

A bridge between the Roman poets and the medieval lyricists can be constructed. Poetry

did not disappear because barbarians invaded Rome. In fact, the medieval poets drew upon

ancient authorities for their inspiration. As Winthrop Wetherbee states in regards to Bernardus

Silvestris’ Cosmographia, “Bernardus’ masterpiece is a cosmology, modeled on Boethius,

Martianus Capella, Ovid, and others, and at the same time a highly self-conscious literary

exercise that amounts to an ars poetica.”9 Boethius, who wrote in verse and prose, had a

tremendous influence on the thought, literature and music of the Middle Ages. Similarly, Ovid

influenced later poets and writers, who constantly used images from his poems to convey their

meaning. Yet the poet with the greatest influence on the Middle Ages from antiquity was

Publius Vergilius Maro. Dante grants him an important role in his Comedia, demonstrating that

the giants of the past were not only known but also revered in the thirteenth and fourteenth

centuries AD. As early as the fourth century AD, Christian authors such as Proba wrote in a

style known as a “cento,” in which the poet conveyed a Christian meaning in the guise of

Vergilian hexameters.10 Although the classical tradition filtered into the early medieval schools,

7 Dronke (1968) 163. 8 Reynolds 98. 9 Wetherbee 97. 10 Proba 111. This form of composition was immensely popular in late antiquity, as Raby notes: “The centos continued, however, to be admired and read. Isidore of Seville knew all about them, and the Carolingians can hardly have overlooked them” (44-5).

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knowledge of classical Latin dwindled as time drew Europe farther away from its Roman past.

This prompted Charlemagne to call for reform. He sparked a rebirth of learning in his court that

spread throughout his kingdom:

An important result of a rapidly developing and highly organized educational program, spreading from the court to the monasteries and cathedrals, was the need for books; these were produced on an unprecedented scale, in a flurry of activity which salvaged for us the greater part of Latin literature.11

This renaissance firmly rooted Latin as well as Rome’s literary tradition in the education of

Europe.

Just as Latin had a long and distinguished poetic tradition, the poetry of the vernacular

languages, which is not as well known, had a definite influence on the rise of secular Latin lyric.

The emergence of historical lays and epics in a variety of languages, such as Beowulf, which was

written down around 1000 AD, reveals that the Greeks were not unique in the development of

verse over prose. Naturally, Beowulf does not appear out of a vacuum, but emerges from a well-

established custom of song. P. S. Allen cites Tacitus as evidence for such a tradition of song

among the Germanic tribes of late antiquity: “In the famous second chapter of his Germania,

Tacitus tells us that certain German tribes celebrated in ancient songs—unum apud illos

memoriae et annalium genus—the birth of their clan and its founders, earth-sprung Tuisco, and

his son Mannus.”12 This brief quotation from the illustrious Roman historian on the surface says

little about the poetic tradition among the barbarian tribes. However, just the mere mention of

such a custom confirms the fact that the non-Roman, barbarian regions of Europe also had an

oral tradition of poetry. The poets who created these songs benefited from the influence of

ancient poetic traditions.13

11 Reynolds 84. 12 Allen 6. 13 Ibid 7.

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This tradition does not lack famous tales and myths; indeed, some still influence the

modern world. From the fourth to the sixth century, European literature is far from extinct.

Allen speculates:

This is the period in which Gothic minstrels, singing to the harp at the courts of German kings created the legendary tales which were to become the materials for epic recital in later days, and—passing into the Eddas, the Nibelung Lay, and other poems—were to preserve in dim outline the memory of certain great historical chieftains who played their part in dismembering the empire.14

The tribes remembered their heritage in song much like Greeks and Romans. For example in the

epic poem, Beowulf, Hrothgar’s minstrel sings of the death of Grendel at the hands of Beowulf

immediately and then begins to recount the tale of Sigemund, the dragon-slayer.15

The tradition of song and verse in the vernaculars was not confined to the German tribes,

but permeated Europe. Musicians sang and played in all the courts of the continent from the

early fourth century. Dronke writes:

In the mid-fifth century the Hunnish Emperor Attila has two Gothic minstrels and a Scythian buffoon performing at his court on the Danube; in 507 Emperor Theodoric at Ravenna sends a singing lutanist to Clovis; at the Parisian court of Clovis’ son Childebert we find a Celtic bard Hyvarnion, prized for his composition of songs and lays.16

The presence of such a number of minstrels in varied places attests to their popularity. At this

point in history an interesting phenomenon occurs in the relationship between orality and

literacy. Poets in the court of Theodoric composed songs about events during his reign in

writing in order to give a mythic stature to the emperor.17 These lays eventually worked their

way into the vernacular oral tradition with the collapse of Gothic power.18 Consequently in the

14 Ibid. 15 Beowulf ln. 870ff. 16 Ibid 18-19. 17 Wolf 72. 18 Ibid.

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Middle Ages, Latin literature and the songs of the oral vernacular tradition influenced one

another, eventually producing the literature of the eleventh and twelfth centuries AD.

The tradition of poetry in Latin and the custom of songs in various vernacular dialects

each had an influence on the development of secular Latin lyric. Moreover, the Muslim invaders

of Christendom also shaped the content and style of poetry in Europe. Most students recognize

Arab influence in fields such as philosophy and theology. However, the Muslim invasions

brought with them other aspects of their culture, including poetry. By 1212, the Kingdom of

Castile had established itself in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, about half of which belonged

to various Christian kingdoms.19 Even though violence and conflict often characterize the

Middle Ages in Spain, the Christians and Muslims interacted with each other in this country far

more frequently than in any other part of Europe except perhaps Sicily and the Greek East. This

exchange led to the adoption of architectural styles as well as various philosophies and, of

course, literatures. The court of Sancho IV in Castile employed numerous poets and musicians

including Jews, Arabs and Christians.20 Not only does this offer an interesting observation

concerning Christian-Muslim relations but it also demonstrates a path through which the Arab

tradition of song entered and influenced European poetry.

With such a tradition of vernacular poetry to draw from, the question concerning the

origin of Latin lyric remains unresolved. It would seem natural enough for the vernacular to

become the dominant medium for poetry, leaving the antiquated Latin far behind. The Italian

poet Dante sheds light on the reason why Latin remained appropriate for secular poetry.

Between 1303 and 1305, Dante composed De vulgari eloquentia, a work designed to promote

19 Hollister 220. 20 Dronke (1996) 19.

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the usage of a common Italian vernacular.21 In many respects, this book embodies his political

beliefs.22 After his expulsion from Florence, Dante wrote in both this work and in the De

Monarchia on behalf of the unification of Italy.23 To the end of unifying Italy under one lord,

the Holy Roman Emperor, Dante found that he must try to reconcile the various vernacular

dialects of Italian into one common, national vernacular, the Italian.

For such a project to be successful, Dante had to show how the vernacular language and

in particular poetry acted as the continuator of the tradition of Latin literature:24

From this we have another, secondary language which the Romans called grammar. This secondary language is also possessed by the Greeks and others, but not by all; and indeed few attain it because it is only in the course of time and by assiduous study that we become schooled in its rules and art. Now of the two the nobler is the vernacular: first because it is the first language ever spoken by mankind; second because the whole world uses it though in diverse pronunciations and forms; finally because it is natural to us while the other is more the product of art.25

Although Latin was far from dead, it was no longer the common language of the people by the

time Dante wrote. Learning Latin required extensive study of grammar and a knowledge of the

greatest authors of antiquity such as Virgil and Ovid. This part of the medieval education aided

the growth of poetry. Furthermore, Dante makes an interesting comment in reference to Latin as

a product of “art.” The word ars has many meanings. It is the root of the English word

“artificial,” meaning not natural. Marianne Shapiro, whose translation of Dante is cited above,

translated the word in this sense, as she explains in her text. However, in Latin it also has the

meaning of a “skill.” It is something learned that takes time and effort to master. Consequently,

while Dante understood that a minority of people knew Latin, it was a useful medium for poetic

21 Federn 256. 22 Ibid. 23 Holmes 31. 24 Grayson 149. 25 Dante. De vulgari eloquentia. in Shapiro 47-8.

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composition only for those with knowledge of it. For Italian to become a national language, it

needed rules of grammar allowing stability. Dante says, “Since it was regularized by the

common agreement of peoples, grammar then becomes independent of individual judgment,

hence incapable of variation.”26 Because Latin already possessed those rules, it remained a

language in which to write.

Another reason secular lyric poetry appeared in Latin as well as in the vernacular lies in

the men who wrote it. By and large, the authors of medieval lyric poetry were either students at

the university or monks. The romantic view of these poets portrays them as wandering

vagabonds living according to some Bohemian ethic.27 These poets, however, were far from this

ideal and in fact worked as professors at some of the most famous universities in Europe.28

These men knew the tradition of classical poetry and felt more comfortable composing in Latin

than in their vernacular language. Dante’s constant reference to classical poetry, most notably in

the Comedia but also in De vulgari eloquentia,29 demonstrates the symbiosis between vernacular

and Latin poetry. The influence of the study of grammar at the university as part of the seven

liberal arts is revealed in the Carmina burana, the largest collection of profane Latin lyric, which

mentions Roman gods and goddesses as well as alludes to episodes from known myths like Dido

and Aeneas in Book IV of the Aeneid.

Another reason why medieval poets chose Latin as a means for writing their secular

verses is because there existed a poetic tradition in Church hymns and religious verse. Scholars

in the Middle Ages knew of the sexual imagery present in the “Song of Solomon” and were quite

comfortable with bringing this sort of imagery into the Church. The authors of secular or

26 Ibid 57. 27 Dronke (1996) 21. 28 Ibid. 29 Dante, in Shapiro 74-5.

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profane poetry adapted this tradition to their own devices and many of their poems posses a

“religious” quality. In regards to the Carmina Burana, the most apparent relationship between

religious training and secular poetry appears in the melodies of the poems. Many poems in the

codex have neumes30 written above the words. Dronke demonstrates the correlation between the

melody of a poem entitled “Exiit deliculo” and the melody of a religious song, “Surrexit de

tumulo” in the Codex de Las Huelgas.31 The melody of these two poems is the same: the writer

of the Spanish manuscript borrowed from the Carmina Burana since the words of Exiit deliculo

fit the meter better than Surrexit de tumulo.32 Scholars at the university knew well the liturgies

of the Church with all the imagery and rhythm that the songs in those liturgies possess. The

exchange of melodies whether from profane to secular or secular to profane cannot be ignored.

In addition to metrical evidence, word choice also demonstrates a relationship between

religion and the profane lyric of the Middle Ages. The second stanza of poem 50 of the Carmina

Burana begins Pange lingua, a common expression in religious song.33 There are several songs

with this title in the Christians tradition.34 Furthermore, other secular poets, like the Archpoet,

make reference to famous Biblical passages. In his poem Estuans intrinsecus the Archpoet

includes the line, “Cum sit enim proprium viro sapienti supra petram ponere sedem fundamenti .

. .”35 The language alludes to the Gospel where Jesus says that he will build his Church upon a

rock. The secular lyric constitutes a continuation of Christian poetry used by the Church.36

A variety of factors merged to create a highly polished secular Latin lyric poetry that

appeared during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Classical, vernacular, Arabic, and religious

30 These are both metrical markings and indicators of pitch. 31 Dronke (1974) 121 32 Ibid. 33Poem 50 in Schmeller 141. 34 These include the famous setting by Thomas Aquinas still sung in the Catholic Church on Holy Thursday. 35 Langosch 258. 36 Schönberger 121.

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verse each played a role in the development of these profane poems. Through many

manuscripts, such as that of Carmina Burana, the writings of known and anonymous poets were

preserved. On account of this preservation, the poetry of the High and Late Middle Ages has

taken its rightful place in the ranks of great literature.

III. Carl Orff

Carl Orff was born into a Bavarian military family on July 10, 1895.37 Orff’s family

played music on a regular basis, introducing Orff to his lifelong passion at an early age.38 Music

dominated his youth and influenced his work at school. Because the Orff household loved

music, he learned the art of musical composition primarily outside of the classroom through

experimentation and study of famous musical works, writing music before attaining knowledge

of harmony.39

He began his preparatory education at the Ludwig-Gymnasium but transferred to the

Wittelsbach-Gymnasium, which provided a better environment for his musical interests.40 He

readily studied German essay, literature, botany, the natural sciences, Greek and Latin.41 The

latter two had a profound influence on his work. Before his graduation, he left the Gymnasium

and enrolled in the Akademie der Tonkunst starting in 1912.42 In the same year, he published his

first composition, a setting of the poetry of Karl Stieler.43 From 1915-17, Orff conducted music

at the Munich Kammerspiele.44

37 Gersdorf 17. 38 Ibid 16. As Orff himself mentions, “Täglich spielten meine Eltern nachmittags oder abends vierhändig, allsonntäglich war nachmittags Klavierquintett oder abends Streichquartett.” 39 Liess 12. 40 Thomas 3. 41 Liess 12. 42 Thomas 4. 43 Ibid. 44 Maier 4.

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During the war he served the emperor in the First Royal Regiment of Bavarian Field

Artillery in Poland. He was discharged from the service after being wounded.45 Orff

immediately returned to work, becoming the conductor of the National Theatre in Mannheim and

then the Court Theatre at Darmstadt from which he returned to Munich in 1919.46 During the

years of the Weimar Republic Orff met Dorothee Günther and began collaboration with her on

his famous Schulwerk.47 The Schulwerk attempts to teach music to children through methods

very similar to that of the Montessori system.48 While continuing to work on the Schulwerk, Orff

conducted the Bachverein in Munich and composed a St. Luke’s Passion that premiered in

1932.49 The period of the Weimar Republic allowed Orff to continue to develop his style of

composition, a style that bears first real fruits with the Carmina Burana in 1937.

In 1933 Otto von Bismarck sent for Adolf Hitler to be the new chancellor of Germany, a

political act that had immense consequences for the history of the world. Interestingly enough,

Orff began to research material for a new choral cycle in late 1933.50 This search led him to a

thirteenth century manuscript, the Carmina Burana.51 Because of the political situation in

Germany during which Orff composed this piece, a variety of views exist as to the meaning of

the music. Some see it as a representation of the Aryan ideal, an unbridled defense of the tenets

of Nazism.52 Naturally a counterview exists espoused by Orff’s principle hagiographer, Werner

Thomas and supported with quotes from Orff himself. Thomas and others portray Orff as a saint

45 Ibid, 5. 46 Ibid. 47 Thomas 17. 48 Loney 6. Loney actually asks Orff if he is the “Montessori of music,” to which the answer is yes. 49 Gersdorf 50. 50 Briefe, 13. 51 Ibid 19. 52 Kater 113. Kater quotes many publications, mostly newspaper reviews, that have vilified Orff. The most heinous of these is from 1988 in which Riccard Chailly reviews a performance of the piece by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, calling it “a Christmas greeting from Nazi Germany.” This harsh criticism is also mentioned in the speech by Hans Maier.

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thoroughly against the Nazis and in fact under persecution from them. Neither of these views is

wholly correct; the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Orff never formally became a member of the Nazi party.53 In his correspondence with

the archivist Michel Hofmann, Orff and Hofmann continually make subtle jokes about the new

political power. Orff closes the first letter in the collection, “mit vershiedenen heilen,” an

obvious pun on the form of greeting that the Nazis used.54 In a later letter from the spring of

1934, Hofmann tells Orff that if he were to arrive in Bamberg, Hofmann would greet him in the

manner of a subdued Nazi festival.55 Hofmann ridicules the pomp of the Party rallies. Orff

feared that his music would be censored, saying in a letter to Hofmann dated June 12, 1936,

“Now indeed no one will print and perform the Carmina Burana. ‘Un-German’.”56 Orff feared

that the Nazi would consider his music un-German and consequently ban him from composing

and working.

This should not imply that Orff had nothing but disdain for the Nazis and never

associated with them. In fact, Orff worked oftentimes at the behest of the government who in

turn paid him. Orff conducted music for the 1936 Olympic Games, the great display of German,

Aryan, and pagan supremacy.57 Perhaps the most significant interaction between National

Socialism and Orff occurred in relation to his Schulwerk. The Hitler Youth, upon the ascension

of the Nazi Party to national power, had taken over all forms of education, particularly the

preservation of German music.58 Observing this, Orff desperately tried to have the Hitler Youth

53 Ibid 119. This fact is attested to in every biographical source I have read. 54 Briefe, 13. 55 Ibid 24. “Aber wenn Sie einmal nach Bamberg kämen, so wäre das natürlich ein Fest von direkt nationalsozialistischen Ausmaβen.” 56 Ibid 113. “Nun wird ja nieman die Burana drucken und aufführen. ,Undeutsch‘.” 57 Ibid 104. “War fast ständig in Berlin, habe für die Olympiafestspiele allerhand Musik auf Schallplatten dirigiert, allerdings leider zuerst auch komponiert!” (Letter dated: 1. Sept. 1935) 58 Kater 121.

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adopt the Schulwerk in their teaching methods.59 He was not altogether successful at this, but he

did ensure that the idea would remain in publication until 1939.60 Orff also worked under the

protection of the Gauleiter in Vienna, who had commissioned him to write the Antigonae opera

for the Wiener Staatsoper in 1942; it was a three-year contract.61 After the success of the

Carmina Burana, the Nazis wanted Orff to write a more fitting arrangement of Shakespeare’s A

Midsummer Night’s Dream, thus supplanting the composition of Mendelssohn, whose ethnic

background was distasteful to the Nazi regime.62 Orff agreed to it especially since he had once

tried to write such a piece in 1917.63 Perhaps the most interesting event in the relationship of the

Nazis and Carl Orff revolves around the premier of his most famous piece. The Carmina

Burana in June 1937 opened at the Tonkünstlerfest series of the Allgemeiner Deutscher

Musikverein in Frankfurt thanks to the sponsorship of the mayor, Franz Krebs, who was a high-

ranking SS officer and follower of Hitler since 1922.64

Orff did not condone Nazi ideology, but he also believed that as a German he could not

very well oppose it if he wanted to remain either alive or employed. Orff first and foremost saw

himself as a composer and conductor of music. “In reality, his life was little affected by external,

significant events.”65 In order to compose music and have it heard, Orff needed a patron. The

59 Ibid. 60 Ibid. Kater comments: “. . . the Hitler Youth, his most hoped-for client, had occasionally mentioned it[Schulwerk] in its literature but not officially adopted it because of its relative complexity, which was unsuited to the coarse music culture of future Wehrmacht solders and SS killers trained by it.” 61 Kater 130. 62 Kater 125. 63 Liess 15. 64 Ibid 124. There is some question as to whether Orff’s maternal grandmother was Jewish with the idea that his ethnic background would have a bearing on his political ideology in the 1930s. Michael Kater mentions this in his chapter on Orff in Composers in the Nazi Era (142) with the idea that if this were true his political ambiguity would no longer be a question. I take it that this fact, which only appears in this source of all the biographies I read, is perhaps a myth invented to absolve Orff of any blemishes. Either way, it has no bearing on this investigation. 65 Thomas 19.

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best patron in Germany was the state. Therefore, he had to compromise with the political regime

to ensure that the public would hear his work.66

The Nazis criticized the Carmina Burana when it premiered. The piece did not fit in

with their ideals and ideologies. They liked the music but not the words. Goebbels wrote, “. . .

his ‘Carmina Burana’ exhibits exquisite beauty, and if we could get him to do something about

his lyrics, his music would certainly be very promising.”67 One cannot, however, disengage the

text from the music when dealing with Orff. It was a product of his education to believe that the

Greeks and Romans formed the foundation of Western culture.68 He brought this appreciation

for language to his work, and the Carmina Burana stands as a great example of that. As Orff

himself said in an interview:

Some people think the Latin of Carmina, or the Greek of Antigonae and Prometheus, is merely an artistic affect, but that isn’t so. In the time, 1935-36, I wanted to create a documentation. And I asked myself then: What was Europe’s spiritual bond? Of course, several centuries before, it was the Latin language. In that time, from St. Petersburg to Paris and Naples, they corresponded in Latin. The Church was Latin. And it was a spiritual union for Europe. That was the basic reason I wanted to use Latin. And I still say that today, that the ancient languages of Latin and Greek are still the bond in European culture.69

If Orff desired to exalt the ideology of the Nazis, which stressed the Aryan, pagan origins of

German culture, a classical text would have been a more natural source for his composition than

a medieval one. Medieval secular lyric poetry is not a purebred art form, and it is most certainly

not Aryan. The content of the poems does not romanticize the pagan or the classical. Most

importantly Orff’s Carmina Burana accepts the harsh realities of life.70 Nothing lasts forever

66 Maier 8. 67 Kater 132. 68 Thomas 3. “His favorite subjects were the classical languages: ‘reading Homer was like music to me.’” 69 Loney 8. 70pace Schäfer, who incorrectly argues “If we had no other wok by Orff than ‘Carmina Burana’, we should know at once that his music is ‘powered by the vital, exciting, highly expressive rhythm—a rhythmic energy that is full of defiance and rebellion, unruliness and opposition, and also of that which the Bavarians call ‘Hetz’ und Gaudi’ (an untranslatable expression meaning a jovial but unrestrained, uninhibited kind of revelry.”

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because Fortune and her wheel are controlling the affairs of humans. Fortuna is the thread that

weaves the piece together and on which everything hangs. As will be discussed later, her fickle

nature can both aid mankind but also cause it great ruin. There will be no thousand year Reich.

Following the war, Orff continued to compose music, arranging scores for several Greek

tragedies and pieces of German literature. He was a Professor of Composition at the Hochschule

für Musik in Munich from 1950-1960.71 He earned numerous honors in his lifetime, including

an honorary doctorate from the University of Munich, the Grand Cross of Merit with star and

sash from the German Federal Republic in 1972,72 and the Romano Guardini Prize from the

Catholic Academy of Bavaria in 1974.73 He lived his entire life predominantly in his beloved

city of Munich. He died on 29 March 1982 and was laid to rest in the Capella Dolorosa in the

church of the Andechs Monastery.74

IV. Clm 4660 and 4660a: The Songs of Bendiktbeuern

In 1803, with the secularization of the monastery of Benedictbeuern, Baron Christoph

von Aretin discovered a manuscript, dubbing it Codex latinus monacensis 4660 and placing it in

the collection of the Court and Central Library in Munich.75 Forty years later, Johann Andreas

Schmeller published the first complete edition of the poems in 1847, christening them the

Carmina Burana. In the early part of the twentieth century, three scholars, Alfons Hilka, Otto

Schumann and Wilhelm Meyer, combined to work on the publication of a critical edition of the

71 Werner 19 72 Ibid. 73 http://www.helmut-zenz.de/hzguard1.htm Award winners include: Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Werner Heisenberg. 74 Werner 21. 75 Blodgett xviii. Also found in: Schönberger 121.

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Carmina Burana.76 The first volume of this three volume work appeared in 1930. Meyer joined

the project because in 1901 he had discovered that the Fragmenta Burana (Clm 4660a) belonged

with the rest of the manuscript.77 This massive project of textual criticism finally ended when

Bernhard Bischoff published the third volume in 1971.

Bischoff deduced that the manuscript was compiled around 1230, believing that the

codex originated from Carinthia or the Tyrol.78 Modern scholarship has proven this hypothesis,

ascertaining through linguistic and paleographic evidence that the manuscript was compiled in

the Southern Tyrol and then moved to the abbey of Benedictbeuern.79 There are two main

scribes, designated h1 and h2 by Schumann, who show a marked Italian influence.80

The manuscript stems from an interesting epoch in European history, the rise of the

university in the eleventh and twelfth centuries AD. Students in religious orders of some kind

and from all regions of the continent flocked to the new intellectual centers of Europe to be

trained in the art of letters. Because of the diversity of their region of origin, they shared a

common academic tongue, Latin.81 These students frequently wrote verse not only as a

medium of expression but also as a way to solidify the tenets of Latin composition. The

student’s ability to write in poetry demonstrated both his technical skill in Latin and his ability as

a scholar.82 The Carmina Burana provides the best evidence for this unbridled passion for

writing Latin verse. This does not mean that the poems in the codex do not possess beauty or

that they were composed without a sense of aesthetics. The songs cannot be thought of as

76 Carmina Burana: mit Benutzung der Vorarbeiten Wilhelm Meyers ; kritisch herausgegeben von Alfons Hilka und Otto Schumann Vol. 1-3. Heidelberg : C. Winter, 1961. 77 Edwards 43. 78 Bischoff 30. 79 Sayce 3. 80 Sayce 3, and Bischoff 28. 81 Duggan 4. 82 Ibid 12.

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“school-exercises” because they are not mechanical reproductions of classical meter and style.83

While the student wrote these poems in a learned language, he still instilled in them passion and

loveliness.84 Consequently, some of the most beautiful love-poetry ever written is contained

within the 119 leaves of the largest manuscript of secular lyric to survive to this day.85 The

religious nature of the education of these scholars has left an indelible mark upon the manuscript

itself. Dronke makes clear that there is a reciprocal relationship between the poems in the

Carmina Burana and medieval religious songs.86 The language and imagery of these poems

draw heavily upon Christianity as noted in the first chapter.

Not unlike modern university students, medieval scholars constituted a wild bunch. The

history of medieval institutions of higher learning is rife with “town and gown” disputes.87

Students notoriously engaged in the pleasures of the brothel and the tavern. The university

trained these men to become competent leaders in society in either the secular or religious

sphere. The term Goliards is often used to describe the students who wrote secular Latin verse

in the Middle Ages. The origin of this name provokes much debate. On the one hand, some

scholars believe that the name refers to a mythical poet named Golias, who was the founder and

head of the wandering order of poets.88 On the other hand, the name often is used to refer to

Peter Abelard because students called him “Goliath” and Golias could be the Latin form of the

name. Abelard, perhaps, had the greatest influence on the rise of the type of lyric that appears in

the Carmina Burana specifically and in the Middle Ages in general. Of course, Goliath was the

83 Dronke (1974) 129. 84 Ibid. 85 Dronke (1968) 300. 86 Dronke (1974) 120. This is the discussion of the poem Exiit diluculo and a hymn from the Spanish manuscript Codex de Las Huelgas, which was mentioned prievously. 87 Baldwin 49. 88 Ibid 50-51.

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great enemy of the Jewish people whom David had to slay with the help of God.89 Abelard often

found himself at odds with the leaders of the Church. He was even placed on trial under

suspicion of being a heretic. Thus, the connection of Golias to Abelard is not a dubious one.

The allusion to such a well-known figure suited the nature of this mythical band of

wandering poets. They too suffered the censure of the Church, “. . . the clericus found vagus is

henceforth clericus no longer: he is to be shaven, so that no trace may be left of that order to

which he is a disgrace . . .”90 The Church believed that because these scholars, who were all

members of some form of religious orders, had dishonored the Church by following a life of

revelry and lewdness, and dedicated themselves not to the noble pursuits of scholarship but to

debauchery.

Abelard naturally drew the respect and admiration of the wandering scholars on account

of his brilliance as well as the events surrounding his tragic love of Heloise. Indeed, he penned

love poetry to Heloise, and the story of his tragedy struck the poets as much as did the great

classical poets, Ovid and Virgil. Heloise described Abelard as possessing the talent to make

women swoon, “He had two gifts, to win any woman’s heart, said Heloise, gifts rare in a

philosopher, of making and singing, making both in the classic meters and the new rhyming, and

setting them to airs so lovely that even the unlettered knew his name.”91 Because people far and

wide had heard of his poetic expertise, it naturally influenced the poems in the Carmina Burana.

Men similar to Abelard in nature and conduct composed these songs:

So the Carmina Burana reflect a youth culture—a privileged, ambitious, self-confident youth culture, which crossed social and political barrier, upwardly and geographically mobile. The collection is full of that excitement, that daring, that laughing-at-convention which characterizes independently minded youth.92

89 Waddell 118. 90 Ibid 203-4. 91 Ibid 214-15. 92 Duggan 11.

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The collection, therefore, reflects the ideas and style of Abelard. Abelard acted as more

than just an inspiration to those who followed him. He influenced them with his poems

about love and the subsequent losing of that desire, and was also a true leader for these

scholars, the first of his and their kind.

Noting this background, the manuscript itself is divided thematically. The first section of

the codex contains moral and satirical poems.93 The manuscript then moves to its larges part

comprised of love songs.94 The last two sections contain songs of drinking, gambling and

goliards, which are followed by some religious plays.95 It appears that this structure was

deliberate. Bischoff believed that since the manuscript was compiled over a number of years

between 1230 and 1250 AD, whenever the editor discovered a suitable poem he included in the

appropriate section.96 Consequently, the manuscript possess moral and didactic structure similar

to the moralizing encyclopedias common during the Middle Ages, which also contained rhymes

and verses.97 This fact solidifies the notion of a plan behind the ordering of the poems. The

compiler of the manuscript placed the poems based solely on where they fit thematically in the

codex. This idea of a structure according to one theme is sustained by the supremacy that the

goddess Fortune has over the entire work.

Famously the illumination of the goddess Fortune and her wheel emblazes the first page

of the manuscript.98 Under that picture lies the poem “O Fortuna.” Hilka and Schumann

designate this poem as number seventeen in their critical edition, citing textual criticism as to the

93 Bischoff 21. 94 Ibid. 95 Ibid. 96 Bischoff 23. 97 Ibid. 98 Carmina Burana, Ed. Schmeller 1.

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reason for this change.99 Sayce, paraphrasing Hilka and Schumann’s work, believes that this

Fortuna miniature acted as a conclusion to a section of poems on fortune.100 Julia Walworth has

this to say on the subject of the placement of the miniature:

A convincing explanation of the unusual placement of the miniatures is proposed by Peter and Dorothee Diemer in their commentary in Vollmann’s 1987 edition of the Carmina Burana: the scribe allocated space for a miniature when he was coming to the end of a particular group of texts and could see that space would be available, often on the verso of a folio or, in at least two cases (the forest and the pair of lovers), at the end of a gathering.101

This does not diminish the idea that the theme of the fickleness of fortune exists throughout the

manuscript. If the editor originally intended the Fortuna miniature to be placed at the end of the

section, it still has a position of influence over the entire work because it serves as a break

between themes, stands as a witness to what just preceded, and foreshadows themes in the rest of

the codex on account of its size.102

The fact that the goddess Fortune holds such an influential place in the manuscript

testifies to the preservation of the classical past by intellectuals in the face of revelation.

Because of the pervasiveness of reference to all kinds of classical figures and ideas, the writers

of the poems in this codex obviously possessed a familiarity with the literature of antiquity.103

They used the idea of the fickleness of Fortune, which the philosopher, theologian, and musician

Boethius preserved for them.104 To them, fortune constitutes the personification of disorder.105

99 Carmina Burana, Ed. Hilka and Schumann 35. 100 Sayce 5. 101 Walworth 80. 102 I shall no longer refer to the Hilka and Schumann text in this section when referring to the poems. Instead, I will be using the Schmeller edition of 1847 because that is the text that Orff used when he wrote his music. The critical edition with its emphasis on the placing of the poems has minimal bearing on the thematic structure of the manuscript as a whole. 103 Schönberger 122. “Diese Dichter beherrschten das Lateinische sehr gut, kannten die Bibel fast auswendig, zitierten aber auch Horaz und Ovid souverän.” 104 Ibid 123-24. “Die antike Tradition der Tyche-Fortuna kam ins Mittelalter besonders durch das Fortuna-Bild in der Consolatio Philosophiae des Boethius (2,1), das übrigens auch in den Boethius-Handschriften durch Miniaturan untermalt ist.

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The drinking songs of the Carmina Burana support this supposition because they talk about the

harsh luck of the gaming tables. This is seen most profoundly in the poem, “Ego sum abbas”

where the abbot laments his luck in the tavern.106 Consequently, the Carmina Burana are filled

with references to the goddess Fortune and her capricious nature.107

The illumination, which emblazes the first page of the Schmeller text, demonstrates one

of the primary understandings of the goddess Fortune.108 She sits in the center of her wheel.

One hand is raised with palm upward; the other holds the palm down, portraying the motion of

the wheel.109 Patch demonstrates that the ancients consider the right hand of Fortune to dispense

good and the left apportioned ill.110 In this illumination, Fortune holds her right hand palm up,

helping the king rise to power and it is her left hand that casts him to ruin. On the outside of the

wheel, a monarch goes through the four moments of life from a time without a kingdom, to the

period of reign. In the person of the ruler, the cycle of life and the whim of Fortuna are

brilliantly portrayed. Fortuna also wears a crown, demonstrating her power. “As the largest of

all the figures in the miniature, Fortuna is also reminiscent of images of Christ or of temporal

rulers, and although her power may be limited to the terrestrial, this Fortuna is undoubtedly an

ineluctable force.”111 The entire manuscript sustains the theme of the inability to overcome the

caprice of the goddess.

105 Patch, Howard R 15. “Her chief characteristic as the personification of disorder is presented steadily in the numerous accounts, which are found in many types of literature, from Martianus Capella down to the drinking-songs of the Carmina Burana and Nigellus Vireker’s Speculum Stultorum, and even afterward.” 106 Carmina Burana, poem 222 (in the third volume of the Hilka and Schumann edition). “Ego sum abbas Cucanienisis et consilium meum est bibulis et in secta Decii voluntas mea est, et qui man me quesierit in taberna, post vesperam nudus egredietur et sic denudatus veste clamabit: ‘wafna, wafna! quid fecisti, sors tupissima! nostre vite gaudia abstulisti omnia.’” 107 Poems with references to Fortuna: (Numbers refer to Hilka and Schumann edition) 14, 16, 17, 18, 26, 59, 61, 69, 70, 73, 77, 84, 87, 88, 92, 93, 97, 101, 102, 103, 106, 107, 108, 110, 122, 127, 139, 148, 151, 166, 179, 191, 195, 203. 108 This is the same illumination which I placed on the title page of this work. 109 Walworth, 73-4. 110 Patch 44. 111 Walworth, 74.

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The first poem in the codex, as it stands without textual criticism, is perhaps the most

famous setting of Fortuna in all of medieval literature. “O Fortuna” brilliantly and succinctly

describes the characteristics of the goddess. The poet describes Fortune as being like the moon,

always changing in state (O Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis).112 She is never steadfast but

always decreases or increases her gifts dependent solely on how she feels. Therefore, Fortuna

acts on a whim according to her nature. The second stanza remains much like the first,

continuing the description of Fortune. The poet changes the name of Fortuna to Sors but the

theme of the poem remains unchanged. The bard uses brilliant metaphor, much more striking in

the original Latin but roughly translated as, “you are a turning wheel, evil state, empty health,

and always dissoluble (rota tu volubilis, status malus, vana salus, semper dissolubilis).”113 But

this marks a profound change in the text. The tone shifts from an objective description of

Fortuna to a personal lament, which leads the reader into the third stanza. The transition acts

brilliantly because it keeps the strain of thought about the characteristics of the goddess and

brings them down to the personal level. “You, wrapped and veiled, attack me also . . .

(obumbratam et velatam mihi quoque niteris).”114 The final line of the second stanza begins the

idea of what Fortuna does to the individual. The poet stresses the fact nothing will change the

whims of fate. It is very much a classical concept where not even the gods can overcome the

fates. Fate or Luck saps man of his strength to overcome; his strength to live. The final line is

an invitation for everyone to weep for their common condition with him.

As hinted at above, the medieval poet received a certain idea of the goddess Fortuna from

antiquity. The writings of Boethius, specifically his Consolatio Philosophiae, had the greatest

112 Carmina Burana 1. For complete text, see appendix. All translations are mine unless otherwise noted. 113 Ibid. 114 Ibid.

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impact on the medieval idea of Fortune.115 In Book II, Lady Philosophy describes to Boethius

the nature of Fortuna.116 She portrays Fortune as a turning wheel who is a precursor to disaster

always bringing misery by nature.117 Philosophy says:

As thus she turns her wheel of chance with haughty hand, and presses on like the surge of Euripus's tides, fortune now tramples fiercely on a fearsome king, and now deceives no less a conquered man by raising from the ground his humbled face. She hears no wretch's cry, she heeds no tears, but wantonly she mocks the sorrow which her cruelty has made. This is her sport: thus she proves her power; if in the selfsame hour one man is raised to happiness, and cast down in despair,' tis thus she shows her might.118

In this passage, Boethius describes Fortuna in the exact same terms that the medieval author and

illuminator will portray in the Carmina Burana. Yet Boethius builds his work on the firm

foundation of the classical past, relying on both Greek and Roman authors. The idea of Fate of

course was well known in Greek literature in authors ranging from Homer to Euripides.119 The

Roman authors who transmitted to the Middle Ages the nature of Fortune were Ovid, Pliny,

Horace, Seneca, Plutarch, Livy and Juvenal.120 The goddess appears in medieval literature with

classical characteristics because of both the scholars’ knowledge of classical works and their

familiarity with Boethius. Ovid characterizes her as inconstant.121 Horace delves into her fickle

nature.122 Obviously, Christianity attempted to annihilate the goddess because she was pagan as

part of the debate between Athens and Jerusalem made famous by St. Jerome.123 Boethius saved

her from this destruction with his influential work and preserved her for the medieval writers.

115 Schönberger 123. 116 Boethius in Cooper 25. 117 Ibid 27-8. 118 Ibid 28. 119 OCD 589. 120 Patch 11-13. 121 Tristia V, viii, 15-18 as cited in Patch 11. 122 Odes, III, xxix, 51f. as cited in Patch 12. 123 Patch 26.

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A poem with the incipit “Fas et Nefas ambulant” is situated directly above “O Fortuna”

but underneath the illumination of Fortune. The poem begins with the idea that Fas and

Nefas,124 Right and Sin, are very much a like. When they walk together, their strides are nearly

equal (Fas et Nefas ambulant passu fere pari).125 It then admonishes the reader on how to live

according to the principles of Fas. However, the reader should always be careful because Fas

and Nefas are in fact so similar. The text urges the reader to remember the advice of the Roman

jurist Cato to live ethically, “walk with good (ambula cum bonis),”126 which is reminiscent of the

Thomistic or Aristotelian notion that one should do good and avoid evil, betraying the scholastic

nature of the writer’s education. Also present is the idea that these virtues will lead the scholar

to a high place in the affairs of the world. “‘You will be able to give to worthy ones’ and to earn

safely the fame of the office (dare dignis poteris et mereri tute famam muneris).”127 Therefore,

following the precepts of Divine Law constitutes the best way to achieve success in this life.

The poet believes that if one follows these precepts and acts justly, he will become more

compassionate and giving than the Athenian king Codrus.128 The Greek orator Lycurgus told the

story of Codrus in his speech Against Leocrates.129 Codrus was king of Athens when the

Peloponnesians attacked the city. They learned that if they killed Codrus, they would lose.

Codrus heard of this oracle through a traitor and disguised himself so that he would be killed to

save the city. The poet believes that if the reader performs justice, he will be more worthy of

praise than Codrus, a very lofty statement. The poem advises the reader to act morally.

However, its position on the folio between the miniscule of Fortuna and the poem describing her

124 Carmina Burana 2. In antiquity the word Fas meant “right” but it also had a connotation of “Divine Law”. Nefas should be thought of as whatever is opposite to Fas. 125 Ibid. 126 Ibid. 127 Ibid. 128 Carmina Burana 3. 129 Lycurgus. Against Leocrates.

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nature gives the reader the impression that following the advice to right living comprises an

impossible endeavor. Above the poem stands a picture of a monarch at the complete mercy of

the goddess. Below it, a person laments about the nature of Fortune and the horrible things that

he suffers because of her. Therefore, acting ethically constitutes an impossible endeavor.

The love songs also contain this ever-present concern about the instability of Fortuna.130

In the poem “Tempus est iocundum” the pangs of being in love assail the lover. He is in love,

and he asks that the other young men join him in rejoicing. The refrain provides the clearest

description of what he is experiencing, “O, o, I bloom completely, now I burn completely on

account of the virgin love. It is the new, new love on account of which I perish (O, o, totus

floreo, iam amore virginali totus ardeo, novus novus amor est quo pereo).”131 This new desire is

torturing the young man. His greatest joy is also his greatest pain. In the next two stanzas, he

repeats the phrase, “I burn within (intus caleo).”132 His passion for the beloved consumes him

with a burning desire. Fortune’s wheel contains good and bad things as the illumination of the

first page of the codex shows. In this poem, the new love acts the exact same way as Fortuna.

The boy and girl discuss the problems of being in love in “Estatis florigero tempore.”

The young lady and her lover are sitting under a tree and she describes to him the nature of

Venus and how she helps lovers like the two of them. He calls her “my Thisbe (mee Thisbes

adoptato freubar eloquio colloquens de Veneris blandissimo commercio).”133 Thisbe appears in

Ovid’s Metamorphoses in a story much like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet of several centuries

later.134 Thisbe loves Pyramus, but their parents forbid the relationship. They converse through

130 My discussion of these poems is ordered as they are in the score of Carl Orff. However, that is just for convenience, and it should be noted that these poems are not placed in the same way in the manuscript. What is important for this discussion are the themes and tones of the poems individually, separate from the others. 131 Carmina Burana, 140. 132 Ibid. 133 Carmina Burana, 43. 134 Ovid. Met. 4. 55-166.

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the wall and eventually kill themselves as result of drawing wrong conclusions. The fact that the

poet refers to his beloved as Thisbe means that he realizes the impossibility of the affair. In view

of Ovid’s popularity in the Middle Ages, it seems probable that an allusion to such a well-known

character from his Metamorphoses was deliberate and designed to evoke a particular reaction.

The girl is hesitant to fall in love with her suitor. She admits that she would like it if

Venus deemed to smile on their relationship. The boy, in typical male fashion, does not

understand the problem and tells her, “Fortune favors the brave.”135 This line comes right out of

Book X in the Aeneid when Turnus is trying to rally his companions.136 It is interesting to note

that in the Middle Ages poets and writers referred to Fortuna as the bane of lovers: “As we see

here, Fortune is generally at the last unfavorable to one or both of the lovers. She is hard-

hearted, envious, positively hostile, and torments them. It was she who was so cruel to Pyramus

and Thisbe.”137 The man desires to act on their love immediately. The young lady thinks that

they should not rush into anything and begins a list of dangers that they will have to overcome.

Her family scolds her on his account and sends people to spy on them. She calls these spies

Argus, reminding the reader of Io and her plight at the hands of Zeus.138 She suffered because of

the affection of another and the obvious allusion demonstrates that the young lady fears such a

fate as well. In fact she fears more the gaze of this spies than the physical pain of torture.

Rumor terrifies her. The suitor is more rash, flouting the weapons of Fate, such as separation

and death, in order that his beloved may deem it acceptable to engage in this romance. The boy

makes one last attempt to convince her and she agrees to it. While not explicit, the specter of the

goddess Fortuna is ever present in this poem. Not merely in the chance invocation of her name,

135 The following translations of poems 43 and 50 were taken from: The Love Songs of the Carmina Burana. Trans: E.D. Blodgett and Roy Arthur Swanson. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1987 136 Virgil. Aeneid 10. 284. 137 Patch, 95-6. 138Carmina Burana 133.

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but also the nature of their discussion shows that the young woman feared the consequences of

their love. Why should they be timorous? Fortuna’s mind always changes. The girl knows that

if they go against the wishes of the goddess, they will inevitable suffer the consequences.

The next poem also deals with Fortuna indirectly. “Si linguis angelicis” continues

multiple instances of Christian references. The first line of the poem brings to mind Christian

imagery, which continues throughout the piece. The opening stanza concludes with the phrase,

“through which I am preferred rightly over all Christians moreover over those envious

exhausting wickedness” (per quam recte preferor cunctis Christianis tamen invidentibus emulis

profanis). The next one begins Pange lingua which is a common opening line in religious

prayers, most famously the explanation of the Eucharist set by Thomas Aquinas starts with

“Pange lingua gloriosi.”139 The poet worries as in poem 43 that people will discover the name of

the beloved. Scholars believe that this may be because the object of the poem is Eleanor of

Aquitaine.140 The ruin associated with an affair between commoner and monarch could be

linked to the goddess Fortune. As in Greek mythology, mortals should not cause the gods to

know of the deeds on earth because such knowledge could bode ill for them. The lover knows

that a guard of some sort keeps his beloved from him.141 He then proceeds to describe her in

terms often associated with the Virgin Mary. Mary is the Queen of May and the Church

dedicated the entire month in her honor. The young man writes that she is “the rose of May

more beautiful than all (rosam madii, cunctis pulchriorem).”142 He goes on to call her, “radiant

star brighter than all (stellam splendidam cunctis clariorem).”143 Several prayers refer to Mary

as “Mary, Star of the Sea.” The lover than gets a glimpse of his beloved and hails her in divine

139 Manual of Prayers 378. 140 Love Songs., note 62. 141Carmina Burana 141. 142 Ibid. 143 Ibid.

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terms. Fortuna is mentioned by name later in the song. After he has met and talked with his

beloved, he experiences the pains of love. He suffers, saying, “Therefore my spirit is deeply

wounded and my luck is profoundly cursed (Ergo meus animus recte vulneratur, ecce ‘mihi

graviter fortuna’ novercatur).”144 He judges that Fortuna has cursed his life because he has to

remain separated from his love. Fortuna’s verdict is unrelenting in that he laments to Christ

himself for the pain he perceives. For him, the wheel has turned and Fortune has not been kind.

In the end, the woman takes pity on him and agrees to their relationship. Fortuna’s presence in

the life of this man, however, is undeniable.

V. Orff’s Carmina Burana

Orff stands at an interesting crossroads of music history. Western music shifted away

from the Romantic period in a variety of ways. Some artists went into different tonalities,

breaking with tonal convention. Others became more nationalistic or impressionistic. Orff

reached back to the musical past.145 Specifically in the Carmina Burana, there are several

instances where he drew inspiration from Gregorian chant. He cared most about the unity of text

and music and how they augment and support each other. “He renewed the practical and

productive idea of the ancient Greek musician: in the connection of word and tone, movement

and scene and their integration into the new art of the music theater.”146 This emphasis of word

and music had a third dimension for Orff, the stage. Orff planned for the Carmina Burana to be

performed with a tableau of actors. These thespians would visually represent what occurred in

144 Ibid. 145 This will be discussed later in relation to the Carmina Burana itself. 146 Wiora 7 “Er hat die Idee des altgriechischen ,Mousikos’ praktisch und produktiv erneuert: im Zusammenhang von Wort und Ton, Bewegung und Szene und ihrer Intergration zu neuen Arten des Musiktheaters.

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the score. Orff knew that the most important thing he could do with his art was convey to the

audience the meaning of the text. To do this he created a new era in music theater.

Orff did two things with the Carmina Burana. He wrote a score that brilliantly augments

the text without overshadowing it, and he used the ancient language because he saw it as the

European heritage. This was not some Germanic ideal, but the personal expression of a lover of

ancient poetry.

In the fall of 1933, Orff decided to find a piece for which he could compose a choral

cycle. He had already set the poems of the Roman poet Catullus and now wanted to find a

similar work.147 He began to correspond with an archivist in Bamberg for help.148 Hofmann

possessed a familiarity with ancient writings, which Orff lacked. From the correspondence

between them, it seems that Orff struck upon the idea of using the Carmina Burana when he

discovered Schmeller’s edition.149 He then in the spring of 1934 purchased a copy from a

bookstore in Wurzburg.150

For three years, Orff and Hofmann exchanged letters in attempt to try to give the

medieval text the best rendering they could. To this end, Hofmann consulted Schumann, one of

the editors of the critical edition.151 The new work premiered in Frankfurt on June 11, 1937.

The variety of forms the text took in those four years are very interesting and will be discussed

later.

Orff gave Fortuna a position of importance similar to that in the manuscript. On the first

page of the score, Orff immediately describes her dominance over this piece, calling her

147 Briefe 13. 148 Ibid. 149 Ibid 21. 150 Ibid. 151 Briefe 76. “Mit Schumann (der bedeutend mehr kann als Hilka!) trete ich gerne in Beziehung.”

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“Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi.152 He places two poems about Fortune at the start. The one

completes the other and intensifies Fortuna’s constant presence in the lives of men. The manner

in which he sets the text is evocative of the text’s meaning.153 The piece begins with an

invocation of Fortuna by the choir. Orff wrote that the dynamics of this phrase should be

fortissimo, i.e. very loud. However, after the first phrase, the volume shifts from fortissimo to

pianissimo, i.e. very soft. Merwald writes that this transition evokes the image of mankind

trembling in apprehension and fear of the nature of Fortuna.154 Through the dynamics of the

choir and orchestra, Orff is able to convey the awesome power of Fortuna. Furthermore, the

accents on the words and the rhythm of the piece evoke a sense of motion. The listener

envisions the wheel turning as any man, commoner or noble, is tossed from a state of good

fortune to a state of ruin much like the illumination on the first page of the manuscript.155 The

wheel turns and man’s plight continues. He emphasizes the wheel aspect of Fortune when he set

the piece as a cycle. Not only is the ring structure symbolic of the wheel of Fortune, but it is also

casts Fortune’s shadow over every movement even when the goddess is not mentioned directly.

Because of time constraint, he could not investigate all the subtleties present in the manuscript.

He did keep the basic thematic structure intact. Not only does the wheel surround the entire piece

because of the placement of “O Fortuna” at beginning and end, but also because in the music

more cycles are found.

Orff does not merely leave the circular structure to the placement of the poem “O

Fortuna.” Inside the score there are found cycles within cycles. As will be discussed later, the

piece begins and ends with songs about love. The score moves from love to tavern songs and

152 Carmina Burana (musical score) 1. I have included selections from the score in an Appendix for convenience. 153 Remember how closely text and music are related for Orff. 154 Merwald 49. “. . . auf den mächtigen stoßartigen Fortissimo-Anfang folgt pianissimo das Zittern und Beben des Menschen unter der Fortuna.” 155 This picture adorns the first page of this paper.

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back to the idea of love. There is a shift in tenor but the theme of a cycle remains intact.

Furthermore, Orff cleverly constructed the piece in such a way that the progression of the vocal

parts is cyclic.156 In the last section of love songs, starting with “Veni, veni, venias,” the whole

chorus sings.157 After three movements which switch from a soprano solo to chorus plus soloist

to another soprano solo, the piece returns with “Ave Formossima” to a full chorus. The texts

allow for the various voices to carry the tune. The thematic content of the poems allows for

them to be connected in this manner. It can only be assumed that this was done deliberately. By

ordering these various elements in this manner, Orff with great subtlety hints at the cyclic nature

of life in general, recalling Fortune’s wheel in the process.

After the songs on the nature of Fortuna, Orff placed love songs concerning spring.

Spring is the beginning of new life. Easter lies in spring, and with the idea of rebirth is the

budding of love. Virginal and pure love exists in spring. The whole piece therefore is a

progression of a man and a woman through the throes and development of their affections. As

Anthony Hopkins says in “Shadowlands” playing the lead character C.S. Lewis, “The most

intense joy is not in the having but in the desiring.” This idea comes through in both the first and

the second section on love.

Between these two movements sits a third, the gambling and drinking songs. The

fickleness of Fortuna appears most notably in the tavern where drink can get a man into trouble.

Dice tables were also present in the tavern and the connection of Fortune to the luck of a roll of

dice is obvious. The tavern constitutes the prime location to witness Fortune causing disorder

and this theme appears numerous times in the drinking-songs of the Carmina Burana.158 Orff

brings forth this theme in the music for the drinking-songs he included in his composition. Most

156 Ibid 66. 157 Ibid. 158 Patch 15

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notably are the laments of the goose who is being slowly roasted in “Olim lacus colueram.”159

This theme of lamenting bad fortune occurs also in “Estuans interius” and the farce, “Ego sum

abbas.” In a move of brilliance, Orff brings out the parodies and satire against the Church with

his setting of the lament of his luck at the dice tables, “Ego sum abbas,” that eerily recalls the

modes and modulations of Gregorian chant. Hofmann and Orff had discussed making the setting

of this poem a liturgical parody.160 There are many expressions of grief in this section about luck

and the effect drinking has on an individual. All of them tie into the reign of Fortuna.

The third section of the piece contains the last of the love songs. This fulfills the early

desire of the lovers in the first section. This section possesses parts of all four pieces already

discussed in their entirety above. The third to last song is an amended version of “Tempus est

iocundum.” Orff sets it as a discussion between the lover and the beloved with a general lament,

which includes a children’s chorus. The effect is that both lovers are feeling the pain of being in

love. Orff maintains the sense of the actual text. The refrain, where the singer talks about how

this new love kills him moves from female to male and then to the entire choir. Orff then puts a

line from poem 43 “Sweetest one, I give myself totally to you (Dulcissime, toto tibi subdo

me).”161 It is as if the coloratura answers and relieves the plight of the lover. Even with this one

phrase, Orff echoes the meaning of this particular poem as it appears in the manuscript.

Therefore, the preceding song, “Tempus est iocundum,” both remains true to the meaning found

in the manuscript and connects to the following song. The two together then plus the song “Ave

formosissima” relate to one another and allow for the reprise of “O Fortuna” to demonstrate the

goddess’ fickle nature.

159 Carmina Burana (musical score) 49 160 Briefe 44. “Das hatte ich schon von Anfang an im Auge, wußte nur nicht, welche Bearbeitung inch anraten sollte, ob als liturgische Parodie (grieforianische Antiphon mit folgendem Hymnus . . .” –Hofmann. 161 Carmina Burana 43. I have also included music in the appendix.

Metzger, 35

The second to last movement is the hymn to the beautiful maiden, “Ave

formosissima.”162 The setting of the piece, accentuating the text, demonstrates the shear

gratitude of the lover and retains the meaning from “Si linguis angelicis” where the young man

acts as if he has seen the young lady for the first time. Six times a glockenspiel plays at the

beginning of a phrase, particularly on the word ave. The sound echoes the bells played during

the Sanctus or during the prayers of Consecration at a Catholic Mass. Hofmann suggested that

Orff compose this piece as if it were a “Corpus Christi” procession.163 He adds several weeks

later that it should be a hymn to the Virgin Mary.164 To continue with the religious imagery, Orff

writes in the second to last measure of the movement the exact four notes of the beginning of the

plainchant hymn “Dies Irae.” This was sung as a sequence during the pre-Vatican II funeral

mass.165 Not only do the notes in the bass staff evoke the allusion to the melody of the chant, but

Orff also hints at such an intention in an early letter to Hofmann when he writes his preliminary

plan for the arrangement of the poems.166 He wanted to write after the closing “O Fortuna”

music for two more songs one of which he thought should paraphrase the melody of “Dies

Irae.”167 The hymn begins as a description of the events that will unfold on the day of the Last

Judgment. The world will dissolve into ashes on the day of wrath. This is significant because

after one measure the cycle continues, and Fortuna spins her wheel. The young man who was

162 The music of the opening of this piece is in the appendix. 163 Briefe 59. Hofmann suggests to Orff, “Jedenfalls Ave muß so eine richtige Fronleichnamsprozession werden, mächtige Akkorde und Tingeltangel dazwischen; man muß Se. Eminenz Kardinal Faulhaber in seiner tunica rufea direkt leibhaftig sehen. Bitte steigern Sie sich recht in süddeutsche barocke Katholizität hinein!.” 164 Ibid 93. “Wie steht es mit dem ‘Ave Formosissima?’ (Frechheit!) Der Stimmungsanstieg der Strophe ist doch ganz meisterhaft: Mit einem weltlich klingenden Liebesgruß geht es an (1.u.2. Zeile), lenkt zu religiöser Sphäre (Madonnenhymnus) hin (3.u.4. Zeile), wird weltweit (‘mundus’) in der 5.u.6. Zeile, nennt die großen typischen Liebesgestalten und Liebesideale des Altertums und Mittelalters . . .” 165 See appendix. 166 Ibid 29. “Schlußteil 1 O Fortuna (wie Anfang) 2 Iste mundus (Die irae paraphr.) . . .” 167 Ibid 36.

Metzger, 36

strived so long to attain his beloved, right at the moment of his fulfillment is denied this by the

goddess.

Conclusion

When Orff wrote music for the Carmina Burana, he maintained the theme of the fickle

nature of Fortune, as he found it in the manuscript. At first glance such a conclusion comes from

the illumination on the first page of the Schmeller text. Critical analysis performed by

Schumann and Hilka has shown that the position of that picture of Fortuna is incorrect. This

does not detract from the conclusion that there is a constant theme of the capricious nature of

Fortune in the entirety of the codex. An examination of the poems provides the best evidence for

this belief. Orff accomplished a similar thematic structure in his composition both by the order

of the songs and by the music, which beautifully complements the meaning of the text. He was

true to the plan of the medieval editor of the manuscript who compiled his work with a thematic

structure in mind.

The poetry found in the Carmina Burana stems from a tradition of poetry that has roots

in antiquity. The characteristics of Fortuna described and portrayed in the poems draw from

such classical authors as Virgil, Ovid, Juvenal, and Horace. Boethius’s influence and importance

in relation to the Carmina Burana cannot be underestimated. The men who composed these

songs and collected them into one edition were part of a growing class of scholars in the late

Middle Ages. They became known as Goliards or “wandering scholars,” and a romantic view

paints them as a group of vagabond Bohemians. But they were intellectuals of the first order,

holding teaching posts in some of the most famous universities in Europe. Their skill in Latin

Metzger, 37

and artistic talent produced some of the most beautiful love poems and scathing satires in all of

Western literature.

Orff effectively conveys the idea of Fortuna present in the manuscript in his music.

Unfortunately, because of the political climate of the decade in which the piece was written, it is

necessary to defend Orff’s Carmina Burana from attacks that say it is Nazi propaganda. The

easiest way to deflect this assault is by citing the text used. Because of its medieval nature,

Orff’s music is free from the stain of National Socialism, an ideology to which he did not adhere.

To support their Aryan ideology, the Nazis looked to classical texts and classical models to

ground their thinking. The 1936 Olympics provide evidence for their melding of classical and

Germanic ideals. The Christian Middle Ages did not fit into their idea of Germanic perfection.

Furthermore, Hitler believed that his kingdom would last for a thousand years. But as the image

of Fortuna reminds us, nothing lasts forever and all things come to an end. Just when a person

thinks that he has achieved everything and has attained success, Fortune spins her wheel and the

person is cast down. This is the great message of the manuscript and the music.

Metzger, 38

Appendix I

This is the first page from the score of the Carmina Burana. Note the fortissimo beginning and then the progression to pianissimo. Also notice the use of accent marks and staccato rhythm denoting movement.

Metzger, 39

Notice the chanting of the same note over many bars as well as the sudden changes in notes over a very short space, which is common in chant.

Metzger, 40

Notice the tessiratura of the opening phrase. Orff conveys the idea of the self-less gift of the beloved to the lover who has been burning with passion for her.

Metzger, 41

The glockenspiel plays the circled notes in the first measure. This part of the piece is arranged as a tremendous fanfare.

Metzger, 42

Notice that the four notes which I have circled are on the beat whereas the sung notes are not, showing the emphasis on the bass line as foreshadowing doom.

Metzger, 43

Here are the four notes which are exactly the same as the notes for Dies irae in the Gregorian chant of the same name.

Metzger, 44

Appendix II I.168

1. 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.

2. Sors immanis

et inanis,

rota tu volubilis,

status malus,

vana salus

semper dissolubilis,

obumbratam*

et velatam*169

mihi quoque niteris,

nunc per ludum

dorsum nudum

fero tui sceleris.

3. Sors salutis

168 The following Latin text is from the 1847 Edition

of the Carmina Burana as compiled by Schmeller 169 *obumbrata et velata

et virtutis

mihi nunc contraria,

est affectus

et defectus

semper in angaria;

hac in hora

sine mora

cordia pulsum tangite,

quod per sortem

sternit fortem

mecum omnes plangite.

II. (but before O Fortuna in the facsimile

edition of the manuscript)

Fas et Nefas ambulant

passu fere pari; (pene passu pari)170

prodigus non redimit

vitium avari;

virtus temperantia

quadam singulari

debet medium

ad utrumque vitium

caute contemplari.

2. Si ‘legisse memoras’

ethicam Catonis

in qua scriptum legitur:

“ambula cum bonis”,

cum ad dandi gloriam

170 This variation comes from the critical edition of W. Meyers, A. Hilke, and O. Schumann.

Metzger, 45

animum disponis,

inter171 cetera

hoc primum considera,

quis sit dignus donis.

3172. Dare, non ut convenit,

non est a virtute,

bonum est secundum quid,

et non absolute;

‘dare dignis poteris’173

et mereri tute

famam muneris,

si ‘me’ prius noveris

intus et in cute.

4. Vultu licet hilari,

verbo licet blando

sis ęqualis omnibus,

unum tamen mando:

si vis recte gloriam

promereri dando,

primum videas,

granum inter paleas

cui des et quando.

5. Si prudenter triticum

paleis emundas, famam emis munere;

sed caveto, cum174 das,

largitatis oleum

male non effundas.

In te glorior,

171 This line reads “supra cetera” in ibid. 172 Ibid has stanzas three and four reversed. 173 digne dare poteris 174 dum

quia Codro codrior

omnibus abundas.175

140

1. Tempus est iocundum

o virgines,

modo congaudete

vos iuvenes.

Refl. O. o. totus floreo,

iam amore virginali

totus ardeo,

novus novus amor

est, quo pereo.

2. Cantat philomena

sic dulciter,

et modulans auditur;

intus caleo.

O. o. totus floreo.

3. Flos est puellarum,

quam diligo,

et rosa rosarum,

quam sępe video

intus caleo.

O. o. totus floreo.

4. Mea mecum confortat

promissio,

mea me deportat

negatio.

O. o. totus floreo

5. Mea mecum ludit

virginitas,

175 cum sim Codro Codrior, omnibus habundas

Metzger, 46

mea me detrudit

simplicitas.

O. o. totus floreo.

6. Sile philomena

pro tempore,

surge cantilena

de pectore.

O. o. totus floreo.

7. Tempore brumali

vir patiens,

animo vernali

lasciviens.

O. o. totus floreo.

8. Veni , domicella,

cum gaudio,

veni, veni pulchra,

iam pereo.

O. o. totus floreo.

43

1. Estatis florigero tempore

sub umbrosa residens arbore,

avibus canentibus in nemore,

sibilante serotino frigore,

meę ‘Thisbes’ adoptato

fruebar eloquio,

colloquens de Veneris

blandissimo commercio.

Eius vultus,

forma, cultus

prę puellis,

ut sol stellis,

sic prelucet.

O inducet

hanc nostra ratio,

ut dignetur suo

nos beare consortio!

Nil ergo restat ‘sanctius’176,

quam cęcam mentis flammam

denudare diffusius.

Audaces fortuna iuvat penitus.

His ergo sit introitus.

2. Ignem cęcam177 sub pectore

longo depasco tempore,

qui vires miro robore

toto diffundit corpore,

quę meum semivivere

felici ligans fędere

quem tu sola percipere,

si vis potes extinguere.

3. “Amoris spes est dubia,

aut verax aut contraria,

amanti necessaria

virtutis est constantia.

Sed ceteris virtutibus

est patientia

amoris famulantia.

Sed et ‘ignem’, qui discurrit

per pręcordia,

fac ‘extinguat’ alia.

Noster amor non furtiva,

176 satius 177 cecum

Metzger, 47

non fragilia

amplexatur gaudia.”

4. Ignis quo crucior,

immo quo glorior,

ignis est invisibilis.

Si non extinguitur

a quo succenditur,

manet inextinguilis.

Est ergo tuo munere

me mori vel me vivere.

5. “Quid refert pro re pendula

vilę pati pericula?

Est pater, est mater,

est frater, qui quater

die me pro te corripiunt,

et, vetulas per cellulas

et iuvenes per speculas

deputantes, nos custodiunt,

Argumque centioculum

plus tremo quam patibulum.

Est ergo dignum

virum benignum

vitare signum,

unde malignum

murmur cursitet per populum.”

6. Times in vanum

tam est arcanum,

quod nec Vulcanum

curo cum sophisticis catenis.

Stilbontis more

letheo rore

Argum, sopore

premam oculis clausis centenis.

7. “In trutina mentis dubia

fluctuant contraria

lascivus amor et pudicitia.178

Sed eligo quod video,

collum iugo prębeo;

ad iugum tamen suave transeo.”

8. Non bene dixeris

iugum secretum Veneris,

quo nil liberius,

nil dulcius, nil melius.

O quam dulcia

sunt hęc gaudia!

Veneris furta sunt pia.

Ergo propera

ad hęc munera:

carent laude dona sera.

9. “Dulcissime,

totam tibi subdo me.”

50

1. Si linguis angelicis

loquar et humanis,

non valeret exprimi

palma nec inanis,

per quam recte pręferor

cunctis Christianis,

tamen invidentibus

ęmulis prophanis.

2. Pange lingua igitur

178 This sentence is also in Orff’s score.

Metzger, 48

causas et causatum;

nomen tamen dominę

serva palliatum,

ut non sit in populo

illud divulgatum,

quod secretum gentibus

extat et celatum.

3. In virgultu florido

stabam et amęno

vertens hęc in pectore,

quid facturus ero;

dubito, quod semina

in arena sero;

mundi florem diligens

ecce iam despero.

4. Si despero merito,

nullus admiretur,

nam per quandam vetulam

rosa prohibetur,

ut non amet aliquem,

atque non ametur,

quam ‘Pluto’ subripere

flagito dignetur.

5. Cumque meo animo

verterem prędicta,

optans, anum raperet

fulminis sagitta,

ecce retrospiciens,

‘vetula’ post relicta,

audias quid viderim,

dum moraret icta.179

6. Vidi florem floridum,

vidi florum florem,

vidi rosam madii,

cunctis pulchriorem,

vidi stellam spledidam

cunctis clariorem,

per quam ego degeram

semper180 in amorem.

7. Cum vidissem itaque

quod semper optavi,

tunc ineffabiliter

mecum exultavi,

surgensque velociter

ad hanc properavi,

hisque retro poplite

‘flexo’ salutavi:

8. Ave formosissima,

gemma pretiosa,

ave decus virginum,

virgo gloriosa,

ave mundi ‘luminar’

ave mundi rosa,

Blanziflor et Helena,

Venus generosa.

9. Tunc ‘respondit’ inquiens

stella matutina:

“ille qui terrestria

regit et divina

179 Dum morarer ita: 180 lapsus

Metzger, 49

dans in herba violas

et rosas in spina

tibi salus, gloria

sit et medicina.”

10. Cui dixi: dulcissima,

cor mihi fatetur,

quod meus fert animus,

ut per te salvetur,

nam ‘ego’ quondam didici181,

sicut perhibetur,

quod ille qui percutit

melius medetur.

11. “Mea sic lędentia

iam fuisse tela,

dicis; nego; sed tamen

posita querela,

vulnus atque vulneris

causas nunc revela,

vis182, te sanem postmodum

gracili medela.”

12. Vulnera cur detegam,

quę sunt manifesta?

ęstas quinta periit,

properat en sexta,

quod te in tripudio

quadam die festa

vidi; cunctis speculum

eras et fenestra.

13. Cum vidissem itaque,

181 nam a quodam didici 182 ut

cępi tunc mirari,

dicens: ecce mulier

digna venerari,

hęc ‘exscendit’ virgines

cunctas absque pari,

hęc est clara facie,

hęc est vultus clari.

14. Visus tuus splendidus

erat et amęnus,

tanquam aer lucidus

nitens et serenus;

unde dixi sępius:

deus, deus meus,

estne illa Helena,

vel est dea Venus?

15. Aurea mirifice

coma dependebat,

tamquam massa nivea

gula candescebat,

pectus erat gracile,

cunctis innuebat,

quod super aromata

cuncta redolebat.

16. In iocunda facie

stellę radiabant,

eboris materiam

dentes vendicabant,

plus quam dicam speciem

membra geminabant:

quidni si hęc omnium

mentem alligabant?

Metzger, 50

17. Forma tua fulgida

tunc me catenavit,

mihi mentem, animum

et cor inmutavit,

tibi loqui ‘spiritus’

illico speravit;

posse spem veruntamen

nunquam roboravit.

18. Ergo meus animus

recte vulneratur

ecce ‘mihi graviter

fortuna’ novercatur183,

‘nec quis umquam aliquo184’

tantum molestatur,

quam qui sperat aliquid,

et spe defraudatur.

19. Telum semper pectore

clausum portitavi,

millies et millies

inde suspiravi,

dicens: rerum conditor,

quid in te peccavi?

omnium amantium

pondera portavi.

20. Fugit a me bibere,

cibus et dormire,

medicinam nequeo

malis invenire.

Christe, non me desinas

183 ecce, vita graviter michi novercatur 184 quis umquam, quis aliquo tantum molestatur

taliter perire,

sed dignare misero

digne subvenire.

21. Has et plures numero

pertuli iacturas,

nec ullum solatium185

minuit186 meas curas,

ni quod sępe sępius

per noctes obscuras

per ‘imaginarias’

tecum sum figuras.

22. Rosa, videns igitur,

quam sim vulneratus,

quot et quantas tulerim

per te cruciatus,

‘tu,’ si placet, itaque187

fac, ut sim sanatus,

per te sim incolumis

et vivificatus.

23. Quod quidem si feceris,

in te gloriabor,

tanquam cedrus Libani

florens exaltabor.

sed si, quod non vereor,

in te defraudabor,

patiar naufragium

et periclitabor.

24. Inquit Rosa fulgida:

“multa subportasti,

185 solacium 186 munit 187 dicens ‘placet!’ itaque

Metzger, 51

nec ignota penitus

mihi revelasti,

sed quę per te tulerim

numquam sompniasti188;

plura sunt quę sustuli

quam quę recitasti.”

25. “Sed omitto penitus

recitationem,

volens talem sumere

satisfactionem,

quę pręstabit gaudium

et sanationem,

et medelam conferet

melle dulciorem.”

26. “Dicas ergo iuvenis,

quod in mente geris,

an argentum postulas,

per quod tu diteris,

pretiosos lapides,

an quod tu ameris189;

nam si esse poterit,

dabo quicquid quęris.”

27. Non est id quod postulo

lapis nec argentum,

immo prębens omnibus

maius nutrimentum,

dans inpossibilibus

facilem

eventum,

188 somniast 189 an quod tu orneris

et quod męstis gaudium

donat luculentum.

28. “Quicquid velis, talia

nequeo pręscire,

tuis tamen precibus

opto consentire;

ergo quicquid habeo,

sedulus inquire,

sumens id quod appetis

potes invenire.”

29. Quid plus? Collo virginis

brachia iactavi,

mille dedi basia,

mille reportavi,

atque sępe sępius

dicens affirmavi:

certe certe illud est

id quod anhelavi.

30. Quid ignorat amodo

cuncta quę secuntur?

Dolor et suspiria

procul repelluntur,

paradisi gaudia

nobis inducuntur,

cunctęque delicię

simul apponuntur.

31, Hic amplexus gaudium

est centumplicatum,

hic ‘meum’ et dominę

pullulat optatum,

hic amantum bravium

Metzger, 52

est a me portatum,

hic est meum igitur

nomen exaltatum.

32. Quisquis amat itaque,

mei recordetur,

nec diffidat illico,

licet ‘non ametur190’;

illi nempe aliqua

dies ostendetur,

qua penarum gloriam

post adipiscetur.

33. Ex amaris equidem

amara generantur191,

non sine laboribus

maxima parantur,

dulce mel qui appetunt

sępe stimulantur,

‘sperent’ ergo melius

qui plus amarantur.

190 licet amaretur 191 grata generantur

Metzger, 53

Appendix III I.192

1. O Fortune like the moon you are varying in state, always waxing or decreasing; abominable life now persists and then attends the keenness of the mind by a game. She melts poverty and poverty like ice. 2. Fate, huge and empty, you are a turning wheel, evil state, empty health, always dissoluble, You, wrapped and veiled, attack me also, Now on account of a game of your impious action, I bear my naked back to you. 3. Fate of health and virtue you are now against me, Luck is zeal and defeat always in your service; In this hour, without delay touch the beating in my heart. Because through this lot Luck strews about my strength. Weep everyone with me! II. Divine Law and Sin are walking almost with equal strides; The excessive one does not redeem the vice of greed; Virtue with a sort of singular temperance ought to contemplate cautiously about both vices. 2. If you call to mind that you have read the ethics of Cato in which the law is read: “Walk with good”, When for the glory of giving you arrange your mind, consider this first among the rest 192 These English translations are numbered as they appear in the 1847 Edition of the Carmina Burana as compiled by Schmeller. All translations are mine unless otherwise indicated.

Metzger, 54

what would be worthy of gifts. 3. To give, when not agreed, is not from virtue, the good is often that, and not completely; ‘You will be able to give to worthy ones’ and to earn safely the fame of the office, if you knew ‘me’ first within and in the skin. 4. It is allowed to be cheerful in the face, granted that you would be equal with flattering word to everyone. Moreover I order one: If you wish to produce (?) glory by right giving, you would see the first grain among the chaff from which you would give and when. 5. If you clean prudently the wheat from the chaff, and indeed beware, when you give, you would not pour out the oil of liberality badly. In you, I glory because you overflow for everyone more codrusly than Codrus. 140 1. The time is pleasing, o virgins, you youths rejoice in this manner. Refrain: O.o. I bloom completely Now I burn completely on account of the virgin love. It is the new, new love for which I perish. 2. Philomena sings thus more sweetly and she is heard playing. I burn within. Refrain: O. o. I bloom . . . 3. It is the flower of girls which I love and the rose of roses which I see often. I burn within. Refrain: O. o. I bloom . . .

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4. My promise delights with me, my denial carries me away. Refrain: O. o. I bloom . . . 5. My virginity plays with me, My stupidity thrusts me down. Refrain: O. o. I bloom . . . 6. Be silent Philomena as the time demands, Rise old song from the breast. Refrain: O. o. I bloom . . . 7. The man suffering in the winter time, being wanton with a spring soul. Refrain: O. o. I bloom. . . 8. Come, little mistress, with joy, Come, come beautiful one, Now I perish. Refrain: O. o. I bloom . . . 43193 (70194) 1. In the flowering season of summer, sitting beneath a shady tree. while the birds sang within the wood in cool whispering dusk, I savored my Thisbe’s choice eloquence, discussing Venus’s seductive trade. 2. “Her face, style and shape surpassing other girls, as the sun the stars she more brightly shines. O will my plea persuade her that she might deign to cheer us with her company? 3. Nothing, then, remains more needful than to reveal fully my spirit’s blind flame. Fortune favors most the brave. May this, then, be prelude:

193 The following translations of poems 43 and 50 were taken from: The Love Songs of the Carmina Burana. Trans: E.D. Blodgett and Roy Arthur Swanson. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1987. 194 This number comes from the edition of the entire Carmina Burana, divided into three thematic volumns, by Wilhelm Meyers, Alfons Hilka and Otto Schumann in 1941.

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4a. The blind fire within my breast has long nourished me – strength of amazing hardiness it spreads through my body everywhere. 4b. The man of whom you alone, if you wish to cast a glance, can bank the fire, and me, barely alive, you can bind with a happy knot.” 5a. But among the virtues patience is the slave of love. 5b. But the fire that rages through the heart, another must put out! 5c. Neither furtive nor fragile, our love embraces joy.” 6a. The fire that torments me and wherein I truly glory, is invisible. 6b. If it’s not put out by her who kindled it, it will stay lit forever. 7a. It’s your gift whether I live or die.” 7b. “Why do you propose this dangerous affair in which I’ll risk my life? 8a. My father, my mother and brother four times each scold me everyday on your account. 8b. Duennas in chambers and girls on the watch are sent to look after us; 9 From Argus hundred-eyed I shudder more than from the rack. 10 He is thus a kind

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and worthy man to shun the sign that starts an evil rumor running through the crowd.” 11a. “You fear in vain! It is so secret that even Vulcan with all his tricky nets I disregard.” 11b. Like Mercury with Lethe’s dew Argus in sleep I’ll seal, and close his hundred eyes.” 12a. “In the mind’s tipping scale opposites are at war— whether my love is wanton or chaste. 12b. But I choose what I look at askance my neck I offer to the yoke, In spite of all I ever upon the easy yoke.” 13. “You have not spoken well of Venus’s secret yoke: nothing is freer than it or sweeter or more honeyed. 14a. O how sweet are these joys! Venus’s thefts are just. 14b. Therefore hasten toward her gifts! Late gifts are unpraiseworthy.” 15. “Sweetest man! I surrender my whole self to you.” 50 (77) 1. If I should speak with the tongues of men and angels, it would not be enough to tell of my great prize by which I’m rightly raised above all who share my faith, as well as those who envy me, grudging men of wicked ways. 2. Celebrate in song, my tongue, the causes, then, and deeds!

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But keep my Lady’s name well disguised so that to the people it might not be revealed which is a secret to the nations and remains hidden away. 3. In a flowery, pleasant grove I stood, thinking to myself: “What shall I do? I am unsure whether I sow my seed upon sand, loving the flower of the world: that’s how desperate I am. 4. If I despair, no one truly ought to be surprised; for the rose is guarded by some old crone – neither may she love nor may she be loved in return. O Pluto, I entreat, deign to carry off the creature!” 5. While I was considering what I just said, desiring that he seize the hag with a thunderbolt, behold, looking back upon the meadow left behind, hear what I saw while I lingered thus. 6. I saw the blossoming flower, I saw the flower of flowers, I saw the rose of May more beautiful than all, I saw the radiant star brighter than all, for whom I have lived once fallen in love. 7. Thus when I saw the creature I’ve always loved, without the help of words I exulted within myself, and quickly leaping up I ran towards her, and genuflecting greeted her: 8. “Hail, most beautiful, precious jewel, hail, grace of virgins, virgin glorious, hail, light of lights, hail rose of the world, Blancheflor and Helen, noble Venus!” 9. Thus she answered, this star of morning, saying: “He, Who all things earthly rules and things divine, scattering violets in the grass and roses on the thorn, may He be your grace, your fame and health.” 10. To whom I said: “Sweetest, my heart affirms what my soul conveys: through you salvation lies. For I have learned from someone, as it’s said, that he who wounds provides the better cure.” 11. “Thus, the arms I bear cause such wounds – is this what you say? No I say, but, complaints aside,

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the wounds and the wound’s cause, now reveal, that I might heal you afterwards with some sort of cure!” 12. “Why shall I hide my wounds which are obvious enough? Five summers have passed, the sixth hastens on, that I saw you dancing – it was a holiday – you who were to all a window and a mirror. 13. “And thus while I looked, I then began to be amazed and said: ‘That’s a woman worthy of devotion! She surpasses every virgin, she’s without peer, her shape is perfect, her looks resplendent!’ 14. “Your face was splendid, a plain delight, as brilliant air glistening and serene. How often I said: ‘God, my God! Would this be Helen or holy Venus? 15. “Wonderfully golden her hair flowed down, as a rise of snow her neck brightly shone, her breasts were small, hinting to all how sweet was the odor there, better than all perfume. 16. “’And in her charming face twin stars glowed, the substance of ivory her teeth surpassed, her limbs embrace beauty’s bloom, more than I can say: could it be she who binds as one the soul of all?’ 17. “Then your dazzling shape bound me in chains; it changed my mind my soul and heart. To speak with you, then and there, was what my spirit hoped, but never did it have the hope that this would ever be. 18. “So my soul is deeply wounded. My life, as you can see, is profoundly cursed. Who, I ask you, who could ever harm another so, that he would hope and of his hope be cheated? 19. “Forever a dart within my breast I’ve carried enclosed. Twice a thousand times since I’ve sighed, saying: ‘Maker of all, how have I sinned against You? Of all lovers I have borne heavy burdens. 20. “’Drink does not help me, nor food, nor sleep: a remedy I cannot find against my ills. O Christ, do not decree that so I die, but deign to succor me, a worthy wretch.’

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21. “These harms I’ve endured and many more in number, and no solace shields me from my pain, no matter how often the gloomy nights I am with you in fancied shapes. 22. “Rose, now that you see how wounded I am, how much I have deeply borne, crucified for you, say ‘I am content!’ Do this that I be cured, that I be saved through you, restored to life again! 23. “If in fact you will do this, in you I shall be honored, as the flowering cedar of Lebanon, I shall be praised, but if, which I do not fear, I am betrayed by you, I shall be wrecked and put in peril of life.” 24. The shining rose spoke: “You have raised many things; you have revealed to me things I know quite well. But of things I’ve borne for you you’ve never dreamt; the things I’ve borne are more than those you have recited. 25. “But I omit a recital of them all, wishing to get such satisfaction as holds the promise of joy and healing and offers a cure sweeter than honey. 26. “Tell me, then, young friend, what you have in mind! Is it money you require by which you might be rich, or a precious gem with which you might adorn yourself? For if it’s possible, I’ll give you whatever you want.” 27. “That’s not what I want, neither gems nor silver; giving them to someone else would be better nurture— giving easy resolution to impossible affairs – and which confers upon the gloomy a bright joy.” 28. “Whatever it is you want I can’t divine, yet with your prayers I want to come to terms. Thus whatever I have, look it over carefully, and take it if you can find what you want!” 29. What more was needed? I threw my arms around her neck, I kissed the girl a thousand times and got a thousand more, and over and over I said with certainty: “Truly, truly this is what I was panting for!”

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30. Who does not know what happened next? Grief and sigh are driven far away, the joys of paradise come over us and all delights are furnished at once. 31. Now my embrace is joy a hundred-fold, now for my Lady and me, what we longed for thrives, now the lovers’ prize is borne by me, now therefore is my named raised on high. 32. Whoever loves, keep me thus ever in mind and don’t despair instantly, although you may be full of bitterness! Surely for you some day will come when praise for pains will finally be achieved. 33. Surely from gall grace is born, and only with labor are great things accomplished, those who desire sweet honey are often goaded on. May they hope for better, those who deeply suffer.

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