Carmina Burana

Fortune spins her wheel – who will win, and who will lose? German composer Carl Orff was inspired to write what would become one of the most notable choral pieces of the 20th Century after reading Carmina Burana – an anthology of medieval secular poetry by the Goliards, a band of poet-musicians who celebrated the joys of life in their vivid verses on the seasons, nature, the tavern, love, lust, and everything in between.

Orff chose 24 of these poems to set to music, creating a work in three sections: Springtime, In the Tavern, and The Court of Love. Bookending the work is one of the most epic and universally recognisable chorus features in the literature: O Fortuna.