| Carl Orff (1895-1982) is probably best known as the composer of such works as Carmina Burana and Catulli Carmina, but it is his work with "Music for Children" which has inspired a global movement in music education. Carmina Burana (1937) is a collection of mostly songs based on poems from a very old manuscript. |
Carmina Burana
This is the first page of the famous "Carmina Burana" manuscript, a collection of poems, songs, and short plays found in Benediktbeuern, a Benedictine abbey about 100 km south of Munich, in 1803. This manuscript was of 13th century German origin and contained approximately 250 poems, and other pieces. Under the picture is the text of a song about the fickleness of fortune. The marks between the lines are a form of musical notation called "staffless neumes." They show, to someone who already knows the song, where the melody goes up or down, and how many notes are on each syllable, but they do not indicate either pitch or rhythm. |
