Carmina Burana

Richard Strauss’s Tod und Verklärung opens the concert with a powerful meditation on life, death, and transcendence. Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana erupts with driving rhythm, unforgettable melodies, and the combined force of St. Mary’s College Belles Voix, South Bend Chamber Singers (with Dr. Nancy Menk directing), Notre Dame Chorale, and Notre Dame Glee Club.

Alastair Willis, conductor

St. Mary’s College Belles Voix
South Bend Chamber Singers
Dr. Nancy Menk, director

Notre Dame Chorale
Notre Dame Glee Club

Program

RICHARD STRAUSS
Tod und Verklärung

— Intermission —

CARL ORFF
Carmina Burana
I. O Fortuna, velut Luna
II. Fortune plango vulnera
III. Ecce gratum
IV. Tanz-Uf dem anger
V. Floret silva
VI. Were diu werlt alle min
VII. Amor volat undique
VIII. Ego sum abbas
IX. In taberna quando sumus
X. In trutina
XI. Dulcissime
XII. Ave formosissima
XIII. Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi

Program Notes

Tod und Verklärung
(Death and Transfiguration)

Richard Strauss
Born: June 11, 1864, Munich, Germany
Died: September 8, 1949, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Composed: 1888–89
Premiered: June 21, 1890, Eisenach, Germany, conducted by Richard Strauss
Duration: 25 minutes

Richard Strauss was just 25 when he composed Tod und Verklärung, yet the tone poem grapples with one of the most profound human experiences: the transition from life to death, and the idea of spiritual transfiguration beyond the mortal realm. The work reflects Strauss’s fascination with narrative in music, as well as his deepening command of orchestral color and emotional pacing.
The piece unfolds in a single continuous movement but is often described in four distinct sections: the dying man’s illness, his life flashing before him, the moment of death, and his transfiguration. It opens with hushed, irregular “heartbeats” in the low strings and a plaintive oboe line, painting the quiet agony of a man on his deathbed. This leads to more vigorous music as memories of youth wake a struggle against death represented by the full power of the brass section. The climax arrives with a shattering orchestral eruption—the moment of death—after which the texture thins, and luminous harmonies suggest the soul’s ascent to a higher plane.
Strauss collaborated with the poet Alexander Ritter, who later published a prose poem describing the programmatic arc of the piece. While Strauss insisted the music was fully intelligible on its own, Ritter’s text remains a useful guide to its dramatic contours. Notably, Tod und Verklärung anticipates Strauss’s later interest in metaphysical and philosophical themes, which would appear in works like Also sprach Zarathustra.
The final theme, representing the “ideal which the dying man strove for,” returns with serene grandeur, its glowing orchestration affirming a sense of transcendence. In this early masterpiece, Strauss captures both the terror and beauty of the end of life, creating a sound world that continues to resonate with listeners more than a century later.

Ritter Poem

Carmina Burana

Carl Orff
Born: July 10, 1895, Munich, Germany
Died: March 29, 1982, Munich, Germany
Composed: 1935–36
Premiered: June 8, 1937, Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany, conducted by Bertil Wetzelsberger
Duration: 60 minutes

Few pieces in the choral-orchestral repertoire have achieved the global popularity of Carmina Burana. Often used in movies and television today, Carl Orff’s vivid and visceral cantata, drawn from a set of medieval secular poems, explodes with rhythmic vitality, bold harmonies, and unforgettable melodic contours.
Though written and premiered in the early 20th century, the source material for Carmina Burana is actually a medieval manuscript discovered in a Bavarian monastery, with texts dating from the 11th to 13th centuries. It contains Latin, Middle High German, and Old French texts that satirize and celebrate the caprices of fortune, the pleasures of spring, drinking, gluttony, lust, and the transient nature of life. Orff selected 24 poems and organized them into a dramatic arc framed by two invocations of the wheel of Fortune, beginning and ending with the thunderous “O Fortuna.”
Musically, Orff employs a language that is at once archaic and modern. He eschews complex counterpoint in favor of driving ostinatos, clear modal melodies, and powerful rhythmic repetition, all of which give the music an almost primal energy. His orchestration, particularly the prominent use of percussion, creates a ritualistic energy that pulses through every movement, whether evoking rustic dance, courtly song, or bawdy revelry.
The work’s central sections are divided into three parts: Primo vere and Uf dem Anger evoke the renewal of spring and youthful vitality; In taberna paints a rowdy scene of tavern life, including the famous solo of a roasted swan; and Cour d’amours explores the delicate and ecstatic expressions of romantic desire. The cantata culminates in a reprise of the iconic “O Fortuna,” reinforcing the cyclical, inexplicable nature of fate.
Orff considered Carmina Burana the cornerstone of his artistic output, famously stating to his publisher after its completion, “Everything I have written to date… can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin.” This declaration underscores the work’s significance in his oeuvre and its lasting impact on choral and orchestral repertoire.

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