Klarinet Archive - Posting 000031.txt from 2007/05

From: "danyel" <rab@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl]Carmina Burana
Date: Sun, 06 May 2007 07:38:15 -0400

Dan, your reaction upon repeated exposure to that piece shows quite clearly
what Orff's music is like: catchy but completely insubstantial. That could
also serve as a definition of Nazi aesthetics. Whether this catchiness and
pomp is made use of for propagandistic purposes (like Beethoven was used as
a background music to Nazi propaganda shows and films) is another question.
Carmina Burana was premiered on a big time Nazi music festival, while Anton
Webern (who still lived in the occupied Austria) was forbidden to even write
music.

apropos: ...In Orff...

The original Goethe quotation used as a rather crude insult in German goes:
Leck mich im Arsch! (lick *inside* my ass). It sometimes is corrupted to a
slightly less offensive "am Arsch" (more like kiss my butt).
There is a story that Hindemith (who did not quite catch on with the Nazis
because Hitler had once heard his Sancta Susanna, a short opera from
Hindemith's wild youth featuring a naked nun) used to say: "Egck mich am
Orff", referring to the two most prominent Nazi composers who continued
their careers like nothing had happened after the liberation. One should try
to work-in also Richard Strauss who was another Nazi music official.

Best regards,
danyel

www.echoton.de/clar.html

----- Original Message -----
From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 12:23 AM
Subject: RE: [kl]Carmina Burana

>
> I end this with a remark made to me by the great Dutch
> musicologist, Marius Flothuis. We were discussing Orff and he
> said, "You understand the meaning of the phrase, 'Leck mich in
> arsch'"? And I said, "Of course." It's German and means "Kiss my
> ass."
>
> Flothuis then said, "Leck mich in Orff!!" It's tough to
> translate the meaning of that, but it is a distinct insult to
> both Orff and his music. A well deserved insult, I think.
>
> Dan Leeson
> DNLeeson@-----.net
>

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