Klarinet Archive - Posting 000961.txt from 2000/04
From: "Randy S. Miller" <rsmiller@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Carmina Burana
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 08:04:35 -0400
!Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 16:00:59 -0700
!To: "'klarinet@-----.org>
!From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
!Subject: RE: [kl] Carmina Burana
!Message-ID: <2DCBFADAFCBBD21189D400805F6FA1AB0D02A0FE=RED-MSG-12>
!
!Cindy Herel asked re CB:
!
!<<<I want it all: Thoughts, anecdotes, web sites, etc. I'm in the mood
for
!a fun and intelligent thread. (If I've missed a previous discussion, just
!give me something new.)>>>
!
!Musings--
!
!My lovely wife is a serious convert to the Cult of Orff. She spent some
!years as an elementary music educator, incorporating much of his program.
!Consequently, my garage is booby-trapped with all manner of hand percussion
!instruments, loose xylophone bars and a general compendium of kid stuff.
!
!I can accept that Mr. Orff was a pedagogical giant. I wish, though, that
he
!didn't take it out on *me* by writing this overbearing, played-to-death,
!pinnacle of tediocrity potboiler. I could live to a ripe old age never
!playing it again -- and be happy.
!
!I'm not so sure that I like the thought of Carl Orff around kids. Have you
!ever read the translation of the poems? They goes something like this:
!
!-- "I'm a young virgin, and oh-so-horny. Do Me!" (Apologies to those
!sensitive members of the list, but this is in fact not far off the mark).
!
!-- I'm a goose. I'm cooking. It hurts.
!
!-- I'm a drunk old cleric. Let's drink.
!
!-- We're in the tavern, and like to drink. Let's drink. And drink. And
!drink. And drink.
!
!-- My spirit is strong, but that young hunk is soooo cute!
!
!Just because the filthy parts are in Latin doesn't me it ain't porn. You
!have to expose children to it, moreover, because it's scored for a
!children's choir as part of the cast of thousands.
!
!I once played a set of CB in a Baptist church. Without a doubt, I get
!another 1,000 years in Purgatory for that one.
!
!Final question/thought -- why is everything repeated 3 times?
!
!kjf
First, If you even attempted to play any of the Trionfo (which is the actual
title of the opus that Carmina Burana belongs to, which also includes the
Catulli Carmina (which is even more pornographic that the Carmina Burana.
The few recordings of it that I know of won't even print a translation, for
fear of being sued.) and Trionfo d'Aphordite (don't even ask)) in a Baptist
Church (especially in the Southern Baptist Convention), you should expect to
be lynched, and comdemmed to hell for eternity!
Second, most of the text aren't exactly ancient. Orff did some extensive
modification of the texts to make them more palatable to the public.
Third, if you think Orff's settings are obscene, you should get your hands
on the old Musical Heritage Society recordings of the original Carmina
Burana by the Clemencic Consort. Those recordings (it was on 4 seperate
LP's) will scare the living bejesus out of anyone!
Finally, Carmina Burana was a clean breakaway from what Orff was composing
before then. I managed to get my hands on a recording of his Oedipus when I
was an undergraduate student in Music History. The orchestra was all
percussion, and the text was all done in sprachstimme, with very little
inflection of voice. (Needless to say, I couldn't stand to listen to it.)
Also, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Go to a bar
sometine and see if the athosphere has changed since medevil times.
Randy
and the hellhounds of 5th Ave.
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