The information about this piece is taken from
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~caveman/Carmina/
(Link no longer works... giving credit where credit is
due)
Please visit this site, for it has a lot more interesting information about this piece.
Here is a low quality MIDI sample of this song: Click Me
The Manuscript
The title "Carmina Burana" literally means 'songs of Beuren' and was given by Johann Andreas Schmeller to his complete edition (1847) of the poems contained in an early 13th-century German manuscript (found in 1803) from the Benedictine abbey of Benediktbeuern, south of Munich in the Bavarian region.
You will find most Carmna Burana CD liner notes refer to Benediktbeuren which is misspelt. This was verified in the Britannica and Hallwag's atlas of Germany, actually published in Germany and should be reliable sources. The reason many CDs get it wrong is that the ending "-beuren" is very common in Germany. This one is an exception. It's about 100km from Munich, almost due south (slightly west), and about halfway to Innsbruck.
Since then, the manuscript has been known by that title even though it is now generally agreed that it probably did not originate in Benediktbeuern and may have come rather from Seckau. The manuscript is perhaps the most important source for Latin secular poetry of the 12th-Century goliardic repertory. There are some poems in German, and several of the poems have music written in unheighted neumes - a relatively rare style of notation at the time. In total, the manuscript contains approximately 250 poems.
******************************
O Fortuna,
velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.
Sors immanis
et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbratum
et velatam
mihi quoque niteris,
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.
Sors salutis
et virtutis
mihi nunc contraria,
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria;
hac in hora
sine mora
cordis pulsum tangite,
quod per sortem
sternit fortem
mecum omnes plangite.
-------------------------------------------
O Fortune,
changeable
as the moon.
you are always either improving
or deteriorating.
Detestable life
at one moment thwarts
and at another
mockingly indulges the mind's desire
melting away
both poverty and power
like ice.
Vain,
monstrous Fate,
you turning wheel
you can, when you will,
destroy bad circumstances
and delusive success alike.
Veiled
and shadowy,
you attack me too;
now at your whim
I bare my back
under your assault.
You, Fate, who dispose
health and strength
are now against me;
my desires
and my weakness
are in constant slavery.
At this hour
without delay
let all pluck the string;
let all lament with me
how the brave man
is crushed by Fate.
Please visit this site, for it has a lot more interesting information about this piece.
Here is a low quality MIDI sample of this song: Click Me
The Manuscript
The title "Carmina Burana" literally means 'songs of Beuren' and was given by Johann Andreas Schmeller to his complete edition (1847) of the poems contained in an early 13th-century German manuscript (found in 1803) from the Benedictine abbey of Benediktbeuern, south of Munich in the Bavarian region.
You will find most Carmna Burana CD liner notes refer to Benediktbeuren which is misspelt. This was verified in the Britannica and Hallwag's atlas of Germany, actually published in Germany and should be reliable sources. The reason many CDs get it wrong is that the ending "-beuren" is very common in Germany. This one is an exception. It's about 100km from Munich, almost due south (slightly west), and about halfway to Innsbruck.
Since then, the manuscript has been known by that title even though it is now generally agreed that it probably did not originate in Benediktbeuern and may have come rather from Seckau. The manuscript is perhaps the most important source for Latin secular poetry of the 12th-Century goliardic repertory. There are some poems in German, and several of the poems have music written in unheighted neumes - a relatively rare style of notation at the time. In total, the manuscript contains approximately 250 poems.
******************************
O Fortuna,
velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.
Sors immanis
et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbratum
et velatam
mihi quoque niteris,
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.
Sors salutis
et virtutis
mihi nunc contraria,
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria;
hac in hora
sine mora
cordis pulsum tangite,
quod per sortem
sternit fortem
mecum omnes plangite.
-------------------------------------------
O Fortune,
changeable
as the moon.
you are always either improving
or deteriorating.
Detestable life
at one moment thwarts
and at another
mockingly indulges the mind's desire
melting away
both poverty and power
like ice.
Vain,
monstrous Fate,
you turning wheel
you can, when you will,
destroy bad circumstances
and delusive success alike.
Veiled
and shadowy,
you attack me too;
now at your whim
I bare my back
under your assault.
You, Fate, who dispose
health and strength
are now against me;
my desires
and my weakness
are in constant slavery.
At this hour
without delay
let all pluck the string;
let all lament with me
how the brave man
is crushed by Fate.
