O Fortuna | Carmina Burana | Carl Orff (lyrics)

The powerful opening piece "O Fortuna" from the cantata Carmina Burana, composed by the German composer Carl Orff in 1936. This version is performed by James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, released on Deutsche Grammophon Records. The complete work is available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Carmina-Burana-Carl-Orff/dp/B000001G5X

The lyrics Carl Orff used for Carmina Burana come from a medieval manuscript dating to around the early 13th century also named Carmina Burana. The piece "O Fortuna", also known as "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" (Fortune, Empress of the World), chooses the capricious nature of Fortune as its subject, which was a popular theme in the later Middle Ages, personified through the wheel of Fortune. The original text, provided below, is in Medieval Latin:

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O Fortuna, velut luna
Statu variabilis,
Semper crescis aut decrescis.
Vita detestabilis,
Nunc obdurat et tunc curat,
Ludo mentis aciem.
Egestatem, potestatem
Dissolvit ut glaciem.
Sors immanis et inanis,
Rota tu volubilis,
Status malus; vana salus
Semper dissolubilis.
Obumbrata et velata
Mihi quoque niteris.
Nunc per ludum, dorsum nudum
Fero tui sceleris.
Sors salutis et virtutis
Mihi nunc contraria,
Est affectus et defectus
Semper in angaria.
Hac in hora sine mora
Corde pulsum tangite.
Quod per sortem sternit fortem
Mecum omnes plangite!

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O Fortune, just as the moon
Stands constantly changing,
Always increasing or decreasing.
Detestable life,
Now difficult, then easy,
Deceptive sharp mind.
Poverty, power
It melts them like ice.
Monstrous fate and empty,
You whirling wheel,
Stand malevolent; well-being is vain
And fades to nothing.
Shadowed and veiled,
You plague me too.
Now through the game, my bare back
I bring to your villainy.
Fate in health and in virtue
Is now against me,
Driven on and weighted down,
Always enslaved.
So at this hour without delay
Pluck the vibrating string.
Since Fate strikes down the strong
Everyone weep with me!

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Thank you,
Rex Falsus

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Видео O Fortuna | Carmina Burana | Carl Orff (lyrics) канала Rex Falsus