Carl Orff – O Fortuna from Carmina BuranaAn evening pause: The first half of this video is a great performance of Orff’s piece, written as the opening for Carmina Burana. The second half shows what I think is the closing scene from a staged performance, but has no sound and is unclear. Regardless, the first half is breath-taking, and includes English subtitles, which clearly places the context of this music in 1930s Germany.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
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The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
An evening pause: The first half of this video is a great performance of Orff’s piece, written as the opening for Carmina Burana. The second half shows what I think is the closing scene from a staged performance, but has no sound and is unclear. Regardless, the first half is breath-taking, and includes English subtitles, which clearly places the context of this music in 1930s Germany.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
referencing the second part of this video with no sound;
I believe (correct me please) it’s a film transfer of a version performed on stage in California, early 1960’s, with orchestra. Might have been at UCLA and by their Theater group.
There used to exist a stand-alone video with the actual performance video & audio, up at YouTube, but the audio portion was subject to a copyright claim and blocked.
Vladimir Lenin turns out to be a pretty good conductor.
Don’t need to hear the music of the second half… just to be reminded of the incredible music and the story behind it. “Shortly after the greatly successful premiere, Orff said the following to his publisher, Schott Music: ‘Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin.'”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Burana_(Orff)
First heard the unforgettable music in the 1986 TV mini-series “Peter the Great” with Maximilian Schell and many other great stars! It led me to read the biography by Robert K. Massie, which was even better.
Don-
Good stuff!
I’m a late comer (ca. 2000) to this; but always loved the music itself for this particular selection, then I discovered the words– and the words are amazing.
(I often kid Edward about not understanding Italian opera stuff, [Evening Pause] but I can catch quite a bit of the Latin meaning itself in this, and it actually rhymes in Latin.)
O Fortuna –
Latin and English Lyrics
https://youtu.be/O5b7tgkdFH0
tangentially– there are some humorous full-blown orchestral performances of this, where the choir will sing the common misheard lyrics.