"O Fortuna" is a
medieval Latin Goliardic poem written early in the 13th century, part of the
collection known as the Carmina Burana. It is a complaint about Fortuna, the
inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman and Greek mythology.
In 1935–36, "O Fortuna"
was set to music by German composer Carl Orff as a part of "Fortuna
Imperatrix Mundi", the opening and closing movement of his cantata Carmina
Burana. It was first staged by the Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937.
It opens at a slow pace with
thumping drums and choir that drops quickly into a whisper, building slowly in
a steady crescendo of drums and short string and horn notes peaking on one last
long powerful note and ending abruptly. The tone is modal, until the last nine
bars. A performance takes a little over two and a half minutes.
Orff's setting of the poem has
influenced and been used in many other works and has been performed by
countless classical music ensembles and popular artists. It can be heard in
numerous films and television commercials, and has become a staple in popular
culture, setting the mood for dramatic or cataclysmic situations. "O Fortuna"
topped a 2009 list of the most-played classical music of the previous 75 years
in the United Kingdom.
Carmina Burana is a cantata
composed in 1935 and 1936 by Carl Orff, based on 24 poems from the medieval
collection Carmina Burana. Its full Latin title is Carmina Burana: Cantiones
profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque
imaginibus magicis ("Songs of Beuern:
Secular songs for singers and
choruses to be sung together with instruments and magical images"). It was
first performed by the Oper Frankfurt on 8 June 1937.
It is part of Trionfi, a musical
triptych that also includes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. The first
and last section of the piece are called "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi"
("Fortune, Empress of the World") and start with the very well known
"O Fortuna".