Medieval Party! The licentious, drunken, gluttonous world of Carmina Burana. Listenings No. 1

Wow! I have been bitten by the Carmina Burana bug, or should I say infested by the Carmina Burana Plague. This is dark and disturbing stuff; rape, avarice, gluttony, greed! I had little idea what I was jumping into when I picked the 11th & 12th century Carmina Burana to start this blog. One could really go on a really deep dive with this material and I think this is just the beginning for me. 

So what is Carmina Burana? It is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts, mostly in Latin, written by students and clergy. It's satirical, X-rated in places, and dark. There is some celebration but with very dark edges. The title simply means Songs from Benediktbeuern; Benediktbeuern being the town in Bavaria where the manuscript was discovered in 1803. The musical parts of Carmina Burana (about one fourth of the poems are accompanied by written notes) are .... problematic? The notation used is neumes without staff lines. In other words, it's just a suggestion of a melodic line without any instruction for exact pitches, rhythm, tempo, and instrumental accompaniment. Fortunately some of these tunes were written down in other places using staffed neumes which helped take out some of the guesswork in reconstructing them. Here's two links if you want to know more: Carmina Burana and Neumes. 

So, what about the music? There were plenty of versions to pick from, in fact there's a great 3.5+ hour YouTube video that includes (I believe)  almost all of the songs, BUT, I decided to mostly limit my listening to the 1975 recording of the Clemencic Consort, René Clemencic director. Let me say first of all that this is a captivating recording. The vocal expressiveness is stellar throughout as is the instrumental playing. The words are SOOOO important to the understanding of these songs, most of them I could find online but not all. The highlights for me were;

(1) the opening track - Bacce, Bene Venies, a joyous song of praise to Bachus, the God of wine.

(2) track 4 - Alte Clamat Epicurus, a real tour de force performance by this singer. Gluttony is dripping from his tone, accompanied only by a drone and drum. Text includes "My Belly is a God" and later the positive effect of wine on his erection! Must have been different back then!  😂 Full text here. Paired with this in the manuscript is the 1st verse of Nu Lebe Ich, a crusade song by Walther von der Vogelweide. It's a curious pairing. This creepy track is a MUST LISTEN!

(3) track 7 - In Taberna Quando Sumus, a drinking song which feels heavy and slightly desperate, like it's about to go off the rails. Text here. 

(4) track 8 - Iste Mundus Furibundos. "This world is furious, it gives false joys." Another example of vocal expressiveness reaching a fever pitch with only a drone for accompaniment. And the lowered 7th at the end! Juicy.

(5) track 9 - Axe Phebus Aurea. The only selection that changes mode. Starts pleasantly but ends tragically. (What a surprise 😉) Text here.

(6) track 10 - Dulce Solum Natalis Patrie. Another MUST LISTEN! Stunning! (too much?) The sorrow of love sung beautifully, and the dulcimer (?) improvisations frame the verses exquisitely. Text here.

(7) track 11 - Procurans Odium. Nails on chalkboard anyone? This was a surprise. Listen with volume up. 

(8) track 13 - Sic Mea Fata Canendo Solo. Tri-tone drone! This one is sinister. It's also very explicit. Text here. Side note - The great myth of the Medieval tritone ban.

(9) track 14 - Ich Was Ein Chint So Wolgetan. The subject of this frolicking tune is .... rape. It's a tale of a young girl and a villain.  What's interesting is that the text alternates between German and Latin. In this version the girl sings the German, man sings the Latin. Text here. 

(10) track 20 - Homo Qui Vigeas. A calm ending to a turbulent world.

Final Thoughts: I would be remiss if I didn't mention how important the drumming and the improvising is in making this music vital. Also, I strongly suggest listening to other recordings because the differences can be startling even though the tunes are basically the same. It's also important to remind our modern ears that the concept of harmonic motion and three part chords were still in the future. I hope you enjoyed this first Listenings blog. Now, go and listen!


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