Carl Orff never did what others thought was right or wanted him to do – an individualist who had no interest in classical genres such as symphonies, string quartets, or concertos.
In 1934, the almost 40-year-old Orff was searching for a subject that would help him achieve his major breakthrough. “Fortune had been kind to me,” he later admitted. In a Würzburg antiquarian book catalog, he discovered a title that “attracted him with magical force.” He was referring to the collection “Carmina Burana,” with song and drama texts, drinking songs and love songs, both moral and satirical, a European compendium from the Middle Ages. The authors of the texts are mostly unknown. The only surviving manuscript dates from around 1230. Continue reading “Carmina Burana has delighted audiences at Eberbach Monastery also in 2025”
