Carl Orff o la grandiosidad de “Carmina Burana” (Esp | Eng)

Son 130 años del nacimiento del músico, compositor y pedagogo alemán Carl Orff. Aunque parte de su vida se enturbió por cierta asociación con el régimen nazi (lamentablemente, nadie está a salvo de equivocaciones históricas), es innegable su aporte musical. Su renovación de la música, paradójicamente, se dio por la revalorización, a través de la investigación, de momentos ignorados o relegados de la música europea medieval. Y también, por la propuesta pedagógica de un método de asimilación de la música en niños, que, según se sabe, ha dado reconocidos resultados.

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It's been 130 years since the birth of the German musician, composer, and educator Carl Orff. Although part of his life was clouded by a certain association with the Nazi regime (unfortunately, no one is immune to historical errors), his musical contribution is undeniable. His renewal of music, paradoxically, came about through the revaluation, through research, of ignored or relegated moments of medieval European music. And also, through his pedagogical proposal of a method for children to assimilate music, which, as far as we know, has yielded recognized results.

Mi experiencia con parte de la música de Carl Orff fue un poco aleatoria. Se produjo, si mal no recuerdo, al escuchar en mi juventud parte de su “Camina Burana” en una obra teatral de un grupo internacional que había venido a mi ciudad (Cumaná, Venezuela), en uno de esos festivales internacionales de teatro que se realizaban entonces (era otra Venezuela) a finales de la década de los 70 o comienzos de los 80.

Me cautivó aquel fragmento musical, apenas escucharlo, y al ver el programa, vi de quién se trataba. Busqué, como pude, esa obra (entonces en casetes) y pude escucharla completamente, además de otras piezas hechas por Orff.

Los llamados ”Carmina Burana” son poemas populares alemanes de los siglos XII y XIII (“goliardos”, se les llama), que Orff tuvo la agudeza de recoger, en su interés por lo popular y tradicional, y realzar en su composición musical.

La maravillosa y espectacular versión que hizo Orff de esos poemas medievales puedo escucharla, especialmente en algunas de sus partes, y sentirla como una expresión máxima de la música, y del efecto que esta puede crear en los oyentes.

Seguidamente, reproduciré uno de los fragmentos de Carmina Burana en la cantata hecha por Carl Orff, que me parece más emblemático.

Aquí una de tantas versiones.

My experience with some of Carl Orff's music was somewhat random. It came about, if I recall correctly, when I was young, hearing part of his "Camina Burana" in a play by an international group that had come to my city (Cumaná, Venezuela), at one of those international theater festivals that were held back then (it was a different Venezuela) in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

I was captivated by that musical fragment as soon as I heard it, and when I saw the program, I saw who it was. I searched for that work (then on cassettes) as best I could and was able to listen to it in its entirety, along with other pieces composed by Orff.

The so-called "Carmina Burana" are popular German poems from the 12th and 13th centuries ("goliards",are called), which Orff had the insight to collect, in his interest in the popular and traditional, and enhance in his musical composition.

I can listen to Orff's wonderful and spectacular version of these medieval poems, especially in some of its parts, and feel it as a supreme expression of music and the effect it can have on listeners.

Next, I will reproduce one of the excerpts from Carmina Burana from the cantata composed by Carl Orff, which seems to me to be the most emblematic.
Here is one of many versions.