MC Chorale, Glee Clubs present ‘Carmina
Burana’ Release Date:
April 30, 2007
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
Three Monmouth College choral groups
– the Monmouth
Chorale and the Men’s and Women’s Glee Clubs
– will take the
stage for special concerts on May 5 at 7:30 p.m. and May 6 at 4 p.m. in the Kasch
Performance Hall of the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium.
Free and open to the public, the concerts will feature excerpts from
one of the most well-known classical pieces of the 20th century, Carl
Orff’s "Carmina Burana."
Orff wrote "Carmina Burana" (or "Songs from Bavaria") in 1935-36,
using ancient Latin and German texts from a codex that had been found in
a Bavarian monastery in 1803. The codex contained about 200 poems,
written in Latin and old forms of German and French, and were decidedly
secular in nature, providing an earthy, lusty glimpse of life in the
Middle Ages.
Monmouth’s choral groups will present some of the more popular
movements of the cantata, including the opening and closing movements,
"O Fortuna," which, according to Sarah Graham, conductor of Chorale and
the Women’s Glee Club, "examines the various amorous aspects of spring."
Two other movements on the program include "In Taberna" and "Cour
d’Amours."
Instrumental accompaniment will be provided by percussion studio
students and two pianists, Ian Moschenross, assistant professor of
music, and Ashley Mack, lecturer in music. Also featured will be two
soprano soloists, senior Jamie Cucci of St. Charles and sophomore Ellen
Duffin of Joliet.
Graham said "Carmina Burana" has gained familiarity with the general
public, quite often for its use as scores in movies, television shows
and even commercials.
Marin Alsop of National Public Radio said the subject matter covered
in Carmina "stays pretty basic: love, lust, the pleasures of drinking
and the heightened moods evoked by springtime. These primitive and
persistently relevant themes are nicely camouflaged by the Latin and old
German texts, so the listener can actually feign ignorance while
listening to virtually X-rated lyrics."
Alsop added, "That may not have been what Orff envisioned when he
wrote Carmina Burana in 1936, but he did have much more than a
straightforward musical experience in mind. He subtitled his exuberant
hour-long oratorio ‘Secular songs for singers and choruses accompanied
by instruments and magical images’
– hardly typical concert fare."
Released
by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330
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