What emotions are stirred inside of you when you hear 'O Fortuna' as performed by Carl Orff?

Nothing, because I’ve heard it a million and one times already.

Yeah, I’m afraid my like for that song is a little jaded, but doesn’t mean it isn’t good. You should’ve seen the first time I heard it when I was only 10 or so. I was playing it out loud too. Also, I have all the lyrics memorized and know the translation for the most part, which probably makes it a little different for me. It still gives me goosebumps when I listen to it; it’s an extremely powerful piece of music and it was ahead of its time (which I believe was 1936). It always seems apocalyptic, even though that’s not what the words are about.

The thing is, Orff’s Carmina Burana is actually an oratorio of 25 songs and this only the first one. Most people probably have never heard any of the other 24.

@DominicX What’s up buddy and I knew that you would chime in on this one too. Apparently you and I are the two few that really love classical music on this site. It is good to hear from you. How have you been?

@Kraken

Wait I know who you are.. :P. I have been great. I have a boyfriend, can you believe that?

Orff is actually one of my favorite composers. Believe it or not, Carmina Burana is unlike most of Orff’s music. “Catullli Carmina” and “Trionfo di Afrodite” are more like his usual stuff, if you want to hear screaming in Greek and songs about nipples and grabbing penises in Latin.

Catulli Carmina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQkDE-XjSA

I remember hearing this piece in one of the Omen movies back in the 80’s. I recently found it on Amazon in a Collection of 99 Essential Classical Pieces. I downloaded those pieces, uploaded this song into my MixPad program, did some pitch shifting and added other music loops to it and will use it as part of my Halloween display this year.

It is one of those pieces like Holst’s Mars Bringer of War, it never gets old and will always remain a powerful piece of music.

@DominicX LMAO you silly boy.

I remember when @DominicX asked a music question asking about music that has basically floored you… it is how I have sometimes felt after hearing O Fortuna. <3 for Orff

@evelyns_pet_zebra The Omen is exactly what I thought of too. Scary.

My response depends on what mood I’m in when I hear it. It is always exciting and pulse-thumping. But if I’m listening to it precisely because I’m in a foul mood, it helps exorcise the demons.

Regardless of my mood, it is always scary and thrilling, darkly mysterious, and satisfying of a certain appetite, even when it’s not cathartic.

I usually also listen to the entire cantata and not just the beginning.

(Orff is not performing it. He wrote it. And there are actually very many classical music lovers around here.)

My principal reaction is usually, “Another lame horror movie? No! a lame sporting event! When will they find a new dead horse to beat?”

@Kraken: There are many more music lovers on here than you seem to realize.

i absolutely love o fortuna. its tied with the william tell overture by mozart as my favorite classical song. they’re both unbelievable. but when i hear o fortuna i just want to go and do something ridiculous. like buy a plane ticket and fly to australia or go sky diving or do something that would make me feel empowered enough to where o fortuna would be appropriate :P

The William Tell overture is actually by Rossini, not Mozart.

@cwilbur – i am embarassed.

It certainly doesn’t make me feel afraid. The Carmina Burana is a collection of medieval secular drinking songs set to orchestral music that, perhaps, over-dramatizes the music played by the much smaller original ensembles. The original music has been lost, so the Burana is Orff’s imaginative reconstruction of a lusty half-pagan world held just barely in check by the civilizing influences of Christianity. I find it invigorating and, well, lusty, in a medieval sort of way.

If you like that sort of thing and you want something a little more contemporary, try Radio Tarifa, (Selection 3) a Spanish group that blends medieval, moorish, flamenco and jazz influences into a similar kind of folk ballad.