Carmina Burana

German-born composer Carl Orff is widely known not only for his musical output, but also for his internationally recognized and revolutionary music education method that continues to be employed by music educators around the globe. Carmina Burana sets to music 13th-century poems found in the Benedictine monastery of Beuron. In the original score of Carmina Burana, one of the most exciting works of the 20th century, the subtitle reads “Profane songs for singers and vocal chorus with instruments and magical pictures.” John Krance’s arrangement for band fully incorporates the vocal parts into the concert band instrumentation and authentically preserves the emotional and musical intent of the original orchestral/vocal setting. Originally consisting of 25 sections, this arrangement includes thirteen, about which Krance writes, “The work begins and ends depicting the crushing anguish of the victims of Fortune’s ruthless wheel ("O Fortuna," "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi"); the remaining sections are devoted to the joys of spring and nature, the pleasures of the tavern and the gaming table, the delights of love, the irony of fate.” (Source: JRO and published score)