Organization

Singer

Tenor

Martin Sušnik

Soprano

Petya Ivanova

Baritone

Domen Križaj

Stage director

Edward Clug

Conductor

Simon Krečič

Costume designer

Leo Kulaš

Set designer

Marko Japelj

Choreographer

Chorus master

Zsuzsa Budavari-Novak

Lighting designer

Tomaž Premzl

Opera and Ballet of Slovene National Theatre Maribor

Others

Opera Choir of the Slovene National Theater Maribor

Orchestra

Maribor Slovenian State Opera Orchestra

Ballet

Slovene National Ballet Maribor

Carmina Burana

Ljubljana

Slovenia

Cankarjev dom

Gallus Hall

Maribor

Slovene National Theatre

Grand Hall. Dvorana Ondine Otta Klasinc

Carmina Burana Orff

Public

Approved

Carmina Burana by the German composer Carl Orff (1895–1982) is today considered one of the most famous musical stage works (stage cantatas), which the composer completed during the rise of Nazism in 1936, even if the Nazis labeled Orff's music as degenerate (entartete Musik). In Carmina Burana, Orff - in a similar manner to Richard Wagner before him with his idea of ​​a comprehensive work of art (German: Gesamtkunstwerk) - wanted to implement the concept of "theatrum mundi" - the theater of the world, in which music is closely intertwined and, so to speak, to the point of indivisibility , movement and speech. Orff's artistic configuration consequently adapted the musical flow to such an extent that music as a sound phenomenon can only be realized to perfection through a dramatic context on stage, which Carmina Burana's modern performances in a purely concert form can hardly satisfy.

While writing this complex work, with its full Latin title Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis (Songs from Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choirs, intended to be performed with instruments and accompanied by magical imagery), Orff wrote a sequence of twenty-four songs from the preserved medieval poetic code, which consists of as many as 254 poems composed in the secular Latin of vagabond students, Middle High German and Old French between the 11th and 13th centuries, he created a unique musical and stage work with a specific dramaturgy. This one is primarily focused on stringing together individual episodes, which are extremely different in both meaning and character, and not so much on (in the strict classicist sense) the evolutionary construction of a musical whole, so it is not surprising that

When composing the cantata Carmina Burana, which, together with the other two cantatas Catulli Carmina (Songs of Catullus) and Trionfo di Afrodite (Triumph of Aphrodite) is part of the triptych Trionfi (Victory or Triumphs), Orff was inspired by the relatively simple but dramatically effective melody of late Renaissance and early Baroque song forms , especially the madrigals of William Byrd and Claudio Monteverdi. Orff was inspired by Stravinsky's early opus when creating a dazzling orchestration in which there is no shortage of pompous dramatic moments, including the opening "point" O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis (O Fortuna, you are like the variable moon) - especially his ballet Les noces (The Wedding) – for which rhythm was the primary musical element. The right rhythm will also be crucial in determining the entry point,

The key visual element that Clug expands into a significant choreographic dimension is the circle, which as a geometric figure is the simplest and at the same time the most perfect creation of nature (stars and planets can be found in a circular form, celestial bodies also move in a circular or ellipsoidal form), as well and the circle is a symbol of ontological perfection and roundness, i.e. the passage of life into death and vice versa, as indicated by many alchemical symbols and emblems of either Eastern or Western esoteric traditions. The circle with its center as the principle of gnosis (cognition) acts as an initiation moment for the dancers, namely as the beginning of a dance (and thus also a social) collective, which takes the viewer through various stages of life, energy states and psychological archetypes under the continuous musical stimulus of Carl Orff .

English

Carmina Burana nemškega skladatelja Carla Orffa (1895–1982) velja danes za eno najznamenitejših glasbenoscenskih del (scenskih kantat), ki jo je skladatelj dokončal med vzponom nacizma leta 1936, četudi so nacisti Orffovo glasbo označili kot izrojeno (entartete Musik). Orff je v Carmini Burani – v podobni maniri kot pred njim že Richard Wagner s svojo idejo celovitega umetniškega dela (nem. Gesamtkunstwerk) – želel udejanjiti koncept “theatrum mundi” – gledališča sveta, v katerem se tesno in tako rekoč do stopnje nedeljivosti prepletajo glasba, gibanje in govor. Orffova umetniška konfiguracija je glasbeni tok posledično prilagodila do te mere, da se glasba kot zvočni fenomen do popolnosti lahko realizira le skozi dramski kontekst na odru, čemur pa sodobne izvedbe Carmine Burane v zgolj koncertni obliki le stežka zadostijo.

Med pisanjem tega kompleksnega dela s polnim latinskim naslovom Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis (Pesmi iz Beuerna: Posvetne pesmi za pevce in zbore, namenjene izvajanju z inštrumenti in ob magičnih podobah) je Orff na zaporedje štiriindvajsetih pesmi iz ohranjenega srednjeveškega pesniškega kodeksa, ki ga sestavlja kar 254 pesmi, nastalih v sekularni latinščini vagabundskih študentov, srednji visoki nemščini in stari francoščini med 11. in 13. stoletjem, ustvaril edinstveno glasbenoscensko delo s specifično dramaturgijo. Ta je osredotočena primarno na nizanje posameznih epizod, ki so si tako pomensko kakor tudi značajsko nadvse različne, in ne toliko na (v strogem klasicističnem smislu) evolucijsko gradnjo glasbene celote, zato ne preseneča, da se Orff v Carmini Burani zavestno izogiba pretirano kompleksnim harmonijam v prid neposrednega učinka pétega besedila, ki se pogosto in tudi skozi afektirana stanja manifestira v nenavadno visokih legah vseh treh solističnih pevskih partov (kot denimo v tenorski ariji Olim lacus colueram, “falzetni” ariji za bariton Dies, nox et omnia ter ariji za sopran Dulcissime).

Orffa je pri komponiranju kantate Carmina Burana, ki je z drugima dvema kantatama Catulli Carmina (Katulove pesmi) in Trionfo di Afrodite (Afroditino zmagoslavje) del triptiha Trionfi (Zmagoslavja oziroma Triumfi), navdahnila razmeroma preprosta, a dramatično učinkovita melodika poznorenesančnih in zgodnjebaročnih pesemskih oblik, zlasti madrigali Williama Byrda in Claudia Monteverdija. Orff se je pri ustvarjanju bleščeče orkestracije, v kateri ne manjka niti pompoznih dramatičnih momentov, med katere spada že uvodna “točka” O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis (O Fortuna, si kot luna spremenljiva), zgledoval po zgodnjem opusu Stravinskega – še posebej njegovem baletu Les noces (Svatba) –, za katerega je bil ritem primarni glasbeni element. Prav ritem bo ključnega pomena tudi pri določitvi vstopne točke, s katero se Edward Clug v svoji značilni avtorski poetiki loteva svojega navdihujočega koreografskega raziskovanja srednjeveških misterijev življenja in različnih perspektiv na življenje, ki so bile tudi v pregovorno “mračnem” srednjem veku pogosto zelo liberalne in pravzaprav identične sodobnemu hedonizmu.

Ključni vizualni element, ki ga Clug razširja v pomenljivo koreografsko dimenzijo, je krog, ki je kot geometrijski lik najenostavnejša in obenem najpopolnejša stvaritev narave (v krožni obliki najdemo zvezde, planete, v krožni oziroma elipsoidni obliki se gibljejo tudi nebesna telesa), prav tako pa je krog simbol ontološke popolnosti in zaokroženosti, tj. prehajanja življenja v smrt in obratno, kot nakazujejo številni alkemijski simboli in emblemi bodisi vzhodne ali zahodne ezoterične tradicije. Krog s svojim središčem kot principom gnoze (spoznanja) za plesalce deluje kot iniciacijski moment, in sicer kot prapočelo plesnega (in s tem tudi družbenega) kolektiva, ki gledalca ob kontinuiranem glasbenem stimulusu Carla Orffa popelje skozi različne stadije življenja, energetska stanja in psihične arhetipe. Skozi Clugovo ekspresivno mojstrsko pisavo se tako na odru udejanja nekakšna evolucija življenjske poti, ki jo pomenljivo začrtujeta sili odboja in privlačnosti, ki jo koreograf v ustvarjanju novih ritualov življenja (in postopni simbolni oddvojitvi ljubezenskega para kot nove civilizacijske “pracelice”) v obliki alegorije podkrepi s pevsko invokacijo besedil iz tega znamenitega srednjeveškega kodeksa, pri tem pa ustvari pravzaprav vse pogoje za globoko in intenzivno duhovno izkušnjo življenja skozi sintezo glasbene, besedne in plesne umetnosti.

slovenščina

Carmina Burana by Orff, From (2021/2022), Directed by Edward Clug,, Conductor Simon Krečič, Slovene National Theatre, Maribor, Slovenia

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