The 20th century choral masterpiece "Burana"

-Have you seen the pop singer Michael Jackson's MTV?

Have you seen the movie "Natural Born Killers"?

——Have you ever heard boxing champion Holyfield’s entrance song? …

Then you will never forget a majestic and majestic chorus - this is one of the most popular classical music works of the 20th century, "Burana" (also known as "Boylen's Song") 》) at the beginning.

"Poem Burana", also known as "The Song of Boylen", is an immortal masterpiece in the history of music and has a profound cultural heritage. These poems and plays were written by wandering poets from the 13th to 14th centuries. They were wandering scholars and clergy throughout England, France, and Germany in the Middle Ages. They were famous for writing satirical rhymes and poems praising wine and carnival and debauchery. "Poem Burana" It embodies the creative style of these wandering poets. The themes and styles of these poems vary, ranging from drinking songs, solemn love poems and indulgent love songs, to religious poems and pastoral lyric poems, as well as satirical poems directed at the church and the government. The composer Orff was greatly shocked when he read "Poem Burana" in 1935. He gave this strange poem new and eternal life with his rough, powerful and passionate music. Orff's "Carmina Burana" was completed in 1936. Its entire title is "Carmina Burana, Secular Songs for Solo and Chorus, Accompanied by Instrumental Music and Wonderful Stage Scenes." It is a grand "situational cantata". Its huge arrangement includes soprano, tenor and baritone solos, a small chorus and a large children's chorus, two pianos and a group of various types. Large orchestral music including percussion instruments. This magnificent work premiered in Frankfurt, Germany on June 8, 1937. It brings people into a completely different world, and its magical music awakens the impulse of joy in human nature with incredible power. Since its release and recording, this work has become the most infectious and stimulating classic choral work. It is also an important teaching material for testing the strength and coordination ability of conductors, orchestras and singers.

"Carmina Burana" is a mysterious poem manuscript from the 13th century. It was hidden deep in a Bavarian monastery for centuries and was unknown. Once it was made public, it shocked the world. It is now The best preserved and most artistically valuable medieval poetry known. As if it comes from heaven and is not a product of earth.

The 20th century German composer Carl Orff (Carl Orff 1895-1982) lived in Bavaria for a long time. He selected 25 poems from this poem manuscript and composed this "Poem Burana" ", divided into three themes: "spring", "wine" and "love".

The preface is magnificent and solemn, as if the composer is trying to build a temple through singing and listening; the first part of the main song, "Spring", is light and bright but also contains far-reaching meaning, with male and female chorus voices alternating The presentation is like the change of day and night in time sequence; the second part "Tavern" is a secular scene, using actor-like falsetto and modulation in the singing, as if describing the world of drunkenness and dreaming in a masked party scene; but strangely it is , the jubilant scene seems as cold as a ghost passing by; in the third part "Love", there are catharsis of longing for love, melancholy praise of love, and simple singing of lust. Among them, a female voice sings "In truitina" "(In the balance) is gorgeous and poignant, and has become a classic repertoire in concerts.

Composer Carl Orff added new melody based on inheriting the classical composition method. He used neo-primitivism elements under the influence of "expressionism" and emphasized percussion components in rhythm, making " Burana perfectly combines medieval minstrelsy with modern singing.

"Poem Burana" is full of surprising elements and drama. It opens and closes, including majestic shouts and euphemistic chants, like a raging torrent crashing into a rock to emit a surging roar. The sound is like a gurgling stream meandering towards the soft grassy beach. The band and the singing complement each other; the shocking percussion is like a call of destiny, which has a strong impact on the soul. "Poem Burana" is a hymn to life, as if God's eyes are watching in the dark. It subtly involves motives such as "faith" and "death" under the guidance of three themes. The tonality has both worldly joy and epic grandeur. The real motivation hidden in it is pity, regret and lament for the short life. To borrow Rilke's poem to describe this work: "The true god of mercy, he comes with majesty, and his light / spreads dazzlingly around him, like the gods. / Stronger than the wind blowing on a stable ship ."

Chinese name: Burana

English name: Carmina Burana - Orff

Resource type: APE

Version: BMG (USA)

Release date: 2000

Album singer: Boston Symphony Ozawa

Region: Germany

Language: German

Maybe you have not heard of the name of the chorus song "O Fortuna", but you have also heard of the classical opera "Carmina Buraria", whose author Carl Orff Karl Orff also seems unheard of.

However, this song may not be unfamiliar to you. It has become so classic that it has been used repeatedly by future generations.

As far as I know, it was used in the album "History" by Michael Jackson, the King of Pop; it was used in the album "The Screen Behind the Mirror" by Enigma, the King of New Age. It has been used; it has been used in NewAge superstar Era's album "The Mass"; more exaggeratedly, it has also been used in the military song of a certain country's army...

Let's listen to it now.

O Fortuna

/music/O20Fortuna.mp3

Opening chorus "O Fortuna" ("O Fortuna"

Lyrics

(Latin) (English translation)

O Fortuna O Fortune,

velut luna like the moon

statu variabilis, you are changeable,

semper crescis ever waxing

aut decrescis; and waning;

vita detestabilis hateful life

nunc obdurat first oppresses

et tunc curat and then soothes

ludo mentis aciem, as fancy takes it;

egestatem, poverty

potestatem and power

dissolvit ut glaciem. it melts them like ice.

Sors immanis Fate - monstrous

et inanis, and empty,

rota tu volubilis, you whirling wheel,

status malus, you are malevolent,

vana salus well-being is vain

semper dissolubilis, and always fades to nothing,

obumbrata shadowed

et velata and veiled

michi quoque niteris; you plague me too;

nunc per ludum now through the game

dorsum nudum I bring my bare back

fero tui sceleris. to your villainy.

Sors salutis Fate is against me

et virtutis in health

michi nunc contraria, and virtue,

est affectus driven on

et defectus and weighted down,

semper in angaria. always enslaved.

Hac in hora So at this hour

sine mora without delay

corde pulsum tangite; pluck the vibrating strings;

quod per sortem since Fate

sternit fortem, strikes d

own the string man,

mecum omnes plangite! everyone weep with me!

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Chinese translation:

Goddess of Fortune (also translated as "Wheel of Fortune")

Oh, fate, Changeable

Just like the moon

Sometimes it is full, sometimes it is incomplete

What a hateful life

First it is rough, then it is smooth

Like being played by fate

No matter poor or powerful

it will eventually dissolve and disappear like ice cubes

Absurd and empty Destiny

You are a giant wheel that keeps turning

Male and cruel

The happiness and contentment of life are gone in the blink of an eye

You hide In the shadows and concealment

Give me suffering and torture, now I have no choice but to gamble on luck

I seek justice from you with my bare hands

Fate is contrary to fate, and I am against it

Health and virtue are not mine

Frustration and frustration enslave my heart

At this moment, please do not hesitate

Pluck the heart-stopping strings immediately

Because fate has defeated the strong

Everyone can only cry with me

O Fortuna is " Excerpt "O Destiny" from "Poem Burana" --Orff Orff