Carmina Burana Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cantata

"Carmina Burana" is subtitled a 'scenic cantata'. It is a setting of 25 poems and student songs in Medieval Latin and low German. It is further subtitled "Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis (Secular songs for soloists and chorus, accompanied by instruments and supplemented by scenery)'. Both a chorale and passion have a religious subject matter, and "Carmina Burana" is not an operetta, though some cantatas - such as some of J. S. Bach's - can also have a religious subject matter.

Answer: Songs from Beuern

'Carmina' means songs and 'Burana' means from the Beuern (district - Upper Bavaria near Munich) in Latin.

Answer: 1803

When the monastery at Benediktbeuern was secualarized in 1803, these songs and poems, which date back to the 12 and 13th centuries, were found.

Answer: Ancient abbey near Munich

Benediktbeuern was the ancient abbey in whose library the manuscript was found.

Answer: Goliards

The 'Goliards' were defrocked monks and minstrels who, according to Charles Cave's "Carmina Burana" webpage, were "better known for their rioting, gambling, and intemperance than for their scholarship."

Answer: No

The subject matter is anything but religious. It deals with mortality and fate (in the Introduction); nature (part I); drinking (Part II - in the tavern); and tender, explicit, and highly sensual love (Part III). No wonder these monks were defrocked!

Answer: Johannes Schmeller

In 1847, Johannes Andreas Schmeller, the court librarian in Munich, published the complete collection of the songs released to the public upon the secularization of the monastery at Benediktbeuern.

Answer: Carl Orff

Unless you definitely knew the name of the composer, any of the above choices would have been reasonable except for Beethoven (and perhaps Schoenberg). This piece has been compared to Igor Stravinsky's "Le sacre du printemps (the Rite of Spring)' for its raw subject matter, pulsating rhythm and percussion, as well as its harmonies. Of course, 'Sacre' is strictly a ballet and does not have any sung parts.

Back to Orff: Interestingly enough, Benediktbeuern is located some 40 miles from Munich, where Carl Orff was born on July 10, 1895 (and died in 1982). He was the only son in a Bavarian family of army officers and was educated in Munich. He studied piano, organ, cello, and percussion in his early years. In the area of composition, however, he is considered virtually self-taught.

Answer: No

From 1913 until '35, the year he completed 'CB', Orff wrote a substantial number of songs and song cycles to texts by many great German poets. There are lists of choral works, operas, and orchestral pieces, including a large symphonic work with soloists and choir. All of these were later cast aside by the composer when his 'Beuern' songs established him as a composer of some substance.

'CB' was to be the second piece in a triptych of contemporary settings of ancient love poems, medieval drinking songs, and texts from Greek and Roman mythology. But since it was published and performed first in 1937, CB became the first; "Catulli Carmina (Songs of Catullus)" became second in 1942; and "Trionfo di Afrodite (Triumph of Aphrodite)" completed the 'cycle' in 1951.

After the first CB performance on June 8, 1937 at the Frankfurt Opera, Orff wrote the following to his publisher: "Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With "Carmina Burana" my collected works begin." What an ego; but you have to admit that he was right.

Answer: 3

After the Introduction, which has the two songs "O Fortuna" and "Fortune plango vulnera (Fortune's blows do I lament)", there are the following three parts.

Part I: In Springtime (Primo vere) with the songs "Veris leta facies (Of Spring's fair-countenanced delight)"; "Omnia sol temperat (The sun rules over everything)", and "Ecce gratum (Anticipated)"; and On the Lawn (Uf dem Unger) with an orchestral dance, then "Floret silva nobilis (The noble woods bloom)", "Chramer, gip die varwe mir (Shopkeeper, please, a bit of pink)", Round Dance (Reie) and Songs consisting of "Swaz hie gat umbe (Here are maidens in the round)", "Chum chum geselle min (Come, pretty maid of mine)", and "Were diu werlt alle min (Were the enitre world mine)". This last song indubitably sets the tone for the rest of the work. In it, the Chorus sings: "Were the entire world mine from the ocean to the Rhine, the whole of it would I forsake that mighty England's queen awake in my arms intertwined"!

Part II: This all takes place in the tavern (In taberna) with the songs "Estuans interius (Storming with indignation)", which attempts to explain why we drink; "Olim lacus colueram (Once I lived by the river's side)", the swan song; "Ego sum abbas (I'm tavern abbot Cucany)", the drunkard; and the rowdy "In taberna quando sumus (When we are in the tavern)" which describes every possible person who imbibes.

Part III: The Court of Love (Cour d'amours) with the songs "Amor volat undique (Love flies about the entire world)"; "Dies, nox et omnia (Break of day, dark of night)"; "Stetit puella (There stood a girl)" is the first time the Soprano sings; "Circa mea pectora (Alas that my heart)", which is in German and Latin; "Si puer cum puellula (If lad and maid slip away)"; "Veni, veni, venias (Come,please come)"; "In trutina (My mind's twin contrariety)"; "Tempus est iocundum (The season now does call)"; "Dulcissime (Boy most sweet)"; "Ave formosissima (Hail to thee, most beautiful)" is the other title for 'Blanziflor et Helena'. The entire work closes and comes full circle (as is the 'wheel of fortune') with Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Fortune, Empress of the world) with the repetition of "O Fortuna".

Answer: Part III (The court of Love)

The Court of Love definitely contains the most explicit lyrics. This part begins with tender love and the description of the anxiety that this love causes. Things heat up with "Circa mea pectora" when the Baritone and chorus sing that "the gods consent to grant my spirit's fond intent that she depart my company unchained from her virginity".

In the very next song, the sextet "Si puer cum puellula", our imaginations run wild as we ponder what happens when a "lad and maid slip away for a moment's bit of play... arms, limbs, and lips, and all pell-mell." We then hear some high-pitched staccato sounds that are quite suggestive.

In "In trutina", the Soprano soloist, as the virgin in question, decides to 'submit her neck to the yoke and let it my every thought direct', when trying to decide between love and chastity (love wins).

In the next "Tempus est iocundum", we hear the Soprano and Baritone, along with chorus, interchangeably 'flower from head to toe,' burning in and aglow with first love. Finally in the "Dulcissime", the Soprano gives herself completely to the Baritone - "Totam tibi subdo me!"

Answer: French, Latin, and German

Though mostly sung in Medieval Latin, there are also Low German parts (Mainly in "Uf dem Unger"). After all, these monks and minstrels were from Upper Bavaria. The score, however, not just the lyrics, is also in French (the title for the Court of Love, Part III, particularly the lyrics ending each stanza of the Baritone's "Nox et omnia" solo) and Italian (the musical directions), as well as Latin and German.

Answer: Tenor

Because of the many high notes that the tenor sings in his one solo in Part II in the tavern, many people have erroneously presumed that the voice is a countertenor's, but it is not; it is a Tenor.

Answer: Part III (The Court of Love)

The Soprano's solos are only in Part III, in the Court of Love.

Answer: Tenor

There is an old madrigal called "The Silver Swan" which says that the bird, "who, living had no note, when death approached, unlocked her silent throat." And what a song this swan gets to sing! As the swan, the tenor soloist sings of having lived by the river's side, admired for his beauty; now he is "roasted black from side to side. Slowly I'm turned by the Maïtre D, I'm scorched as black as can be, garnished with slips of greenery... teeth now greet me at full clatter." This is one of the most humorous moments in the entire piece, made more so by the seemingly somber music through which it is presented; talk about black humor!

Answer: Baritone

The Baritone has the most to sing, singing solos in every part, except the Introduction, which is only for chorus. In Part I, he admires Nature and remembers his love. Why is it that everything, including love, is in bloom in the Spring? In the tavern, Part II, he chooses the path of depravity when troubled in "Estuans interius".

He then assumes the role of the abbot of Cucany in a drunken stupor. In Part III, he is the lad who pursues and conquers the virginal Soprano.

Answer: 3

Orff composed "Carmina Burana" for 3 soli, as mentioned previously, a large chorus ('gran coro'), a small chorus ('coro piccolo'), and a boys' choir ('ragazzi'). There are also 'soli brevi', short solos for 3 tenors, a baritone, and 2 basses from the chorus.

Answer: True

The first allusion is in the first song of 'Springtime' when "Flora now holds reign" and Zephyr is "Wafting from the West". In "Omnia sol temperat", "the boyish god is on the wing, let one and all be mated." The most allusions in one song, though, can be found in the penultimate "Ave formosissima", in which the virtues of Helen and 'generous Venus' are extolled. Even Satan is mentioned in this work, but not once is God mentioned, though 'the gods' are.

Answer: False

Though it is not an opera, remember that CB is a 'scenic cantata'. It does not have to be staged, and is much cheaper to produce as an orchestral concert, but it is that much more of an artistically powerful piece when it is staged. This powerful music, combined with scenery, choreography, and acting is a sight to behold! Many opera companies have staged it, including the New York City Opera and the Orlando Opera in the U. S. recently.

The composer even supervised a film of the work that was released in the '50's.

Answer: O fortuna

Can you hear that first D minor chord pounded out by the timpani, followed by the plaintive chorus singing "O fortuna"? You have heard this so many times in movies, movie trailers, advertisements, even Michael Jackson has used it! If you get a chance to hear the club/rave version that came out in the '90s, you must listen to it. Orff must have known that this song alone would be a hit, as he chose to open and close "Carmina Burana" with it.

I have to say that "Carmina Burana" is not as somber or 'spooky' as the media has made it seem. The spookiest part, if you can even call it that, is one song in the beginning and end that curses fate. In my humble opinion, it is more of a Bacchanale and should be enjoyed with a nice glass of wine.

I will now get off my soap box. Thank you for your time; I hope you have enjoyed this quiz. Cheers!