Carmina Burana is classified into moral-satirical (1-55), erotic (56-186) and Bacchic (187-228). Their language is representative of the Latin of medieval texts, it is simple and free from pretentious words, and it is addressed to an audience of a high intellectual level. A few verses are written in a mixed Germano-Latin or Old French dialect. Important is the innovation of this poetry with the creation of a rhythmic measure, suitable to combine harmoniously with the melody. The poetry of the Goliardi drew elements from the classical and medieval tradition, from the ecclesiastical education and from the daily life of the time, popular motifs and spread throughout Europe gaining sympathy and acquiring imitators.
The Carmina veris et amoris (of Spring and Love) are the most numerous (130 in total 228) most attractive to the reader, but above all more representative of the personality of their authors. While the model of chivalrous refined love prevailed throughout Europe with dominant work De Amore of A. Capellanos, the Carmina Burana surprised with their sensibility and aestheticism. Love, spiritual and carnal, is considered a correct and necessary act, in order for Nature to perpetuate itself in its forms and species, and Nature focuses on Spring, the season, i.e., the flowering of Nature. I chose these poems, when years ago I wanted to give a first taste of this poetry to my students, but also to those interested in this poetry, by publishing their first translation into Greek.
It is worth noting that Goliardi's poetry influenced one of the protagonists of the Italian theater and writer, the Nobel laureate Dario Fo. The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to him, because together with Franca Rame, actress and writer continuing the tradition of medieval Goliardi, they cauterize power, thereby restoring the dignity of oppressed humble people. Their project Mistero Buffo was the cause of the award, the rationale of which was centered on one word: giullare, Italian rendering of goliardus. Dario Fo was characterized as "national goliardus", and he himself declares in his work that he is a goliardus (giullare, son io). I analyzed this intense and impressive effect of the poets of the Middle Ages on the work of the famous Dario Fo in my study entitled "Dario Fo a modern goliardus".
It is impressive that this important poetry of the Middle Ages was unknown for years, instead it became widely known as music, thanks to the composition of the German Carl Orff (1895-1982) with the title Carmina Burana, choral chant "O Fortuna". In the book by F.N.Hoffman "Letters on the creation of Carmina Burana Orff's correspondence with an unknown protagonist at the birth of this work is presented. It is about the archivist M. Hoffmann, who was fluent in Greek and Latin and gave Orff ideas for setting this medieval poetry to music. The setting of the poems first by Orff and later by Doors (Ray Manzarek) kept them current, and through them, alive the sweet voice of their creators, the Goliardis, about nature, love, wine, restless and uncompromising youth.
Carmina Burana in Greece they were performed for the first time at the Herodes Conservatory of Atticus in 1984, two years after the composer's death, by the ERT Symphony Orchestra, and since then intermittently by various orchestras in the same venue. So this year, they were presented at the Herodeion by the National Opera of Odessa with more than 100 performers, orchestra, choir and ballet dancers. From the Carmina Burana they chose the most famous poem "O Fortuna”, which transports the audience to the world of these wandering students and clergy, with the beauties of Spring, the joys of life, but also the youthful fighting spirit to resist the establishment. Fortuna it is the wheel of Fortune, constantly turning for human existence and never tiring of turning…from joy to sorrow, from despair to hope, from glory to disgrace and vice versa.
Carl Orff's music is inspired and perfectly interprets the spirit of medieval poetry. The themes of the lyrics refer to human nature, which will never stop troubling. This poetry survives mainly as a valuable element for the historical and philological approach to the progressive medieval past, as a precursor to the Renaissance.
Image:Uwe Juergens, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
