Carmina Burana

A videographic performance after the eponymous scenic cantata by Carl Orff

Carmina Burana, a cantata written by 20th-century German composer Carl Orff, is one of the world’s most impressive musical masterpieces. The work is based on twenty-four poems from the 11th–13th centuries in Latin and Middle High German from the Codex Buranus, a manuscript discovered in 1803 in the monastery of Benediktbeuern, Germany. Perhaps the best-known movement of the cantata is the chorus ‘O Fortuna’ that opens and closes the work. The cantata’s texts touch on many themes that have not yet lost their importance: the impermanence of fortune and wealth, the fast flow of life, the joy of the returning spring and the fleeting pleasures of drunkenness, gluttony, gambling, and carnal love. Orff’s expressive, frenzied, at times lyrical and lustful music goes beyond intellectual thought and connects intuitively with the listener’s heart and gut. The magic of this music is simply impossible to resist.

The premiere of the stage cantata Carmina Burana took place at the Frankfurt Opera in 1937. The work is scored for a large and unusual orchestra (with two pianos and an expanded percussion section), double mixed and children’s choirs, and three soloists. In the cantata, the composer seems to play with movement, sound, dance, song and visual imagery. Orff’s aim was to create a combined effect on the viewer. Carmina Burana has received numerous interpretations to date and has been played, sung, performed and danced on every continent of the world.

The performance of this famous cantata replaced the production of Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman, which has been delighting audiences of the Klaipėda Festival for several years since its premiere in 2020. Perhaps the most famous movement of the cantata, the menacing chorus “O Fortuna,” which opens and closes the work, became the triumphant salute to the 100th anniversary of the annexation of Klaipėda Region to Lithuania in 2023. Director Dalius Abaris described his new production for the Klaipėda Festival as a videographic performance. According to him, the audience should be overwhelmed by the entirety of the performance: “Orff’s dynamic and spectacular music, huge constructions of the old shipyard, the large number of performers including the choir singers, orchestra musicians, the soloists and the dancers – this alone would be enough to make Carmina Burana impressive. Together with talented crew comprised of stage designer Sigita Šimkūnaitė, costume designer Sandra Straukaitė, videoartist Martynas Norvaišas and lighting designer Andrius Stasiulis we will try to control the whole and wrap it up in an all-embracing garment.” In this videographic performance, which is mounted at the Klaipėda shiplift, one of the most important characters is today’s society – from the richest to the poorest. The principles of sustainable design have been applied to the production’s set and costumes.

AWARDS

Catch the Wave (26/03/2024, Klaipėda) to the Deputy General Manager for Artistic Affairs Audronė Juozauskaitė, Productions Department and Production, Event and Tour Management Unit for the optimisation of internal and external resources, excellent orientation in scouting European soloists, masterful management of technologies and innovations at the location of the historic shipyard (Challenge of the Year); to Rita Petrauskaitė for solo part (Best Female Opera Soloist of the Year 2023)