March 22, 2007

Random Commuter Musickal Observation

WETA-FM, now firmly back in the classical musick fold, is flogging a contest for tickets to a ballet version of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana:

The Washington Ballet and WETA would like to hear about your passions in life - whether they be epic, sweeping, and powerful like Carmina Burana or those quiet, abiding, modest passions that get us through a normal day, we want to know what you're passionate about - in 100 words or less!

Well, one of my passions in life is correct grammar. Try "in 100 words or fewer." And I'll buy you some periods to clean that nasty run-on.

But I digress.

I mention this instead because of a phenomenon that has long interested me. Personally, I find the Carmina Burana rayther tedious (apart from the opening section). Yet I have never met a singer, whether professional or amateur, who doesn't positively adore performing it.

I've listened carefully (well, moderately carefully). The piece does not strike me as especially demanding or complicated. Instead, it seems to give the singers a chance simply to let fly. Is this the appeal? Or have I missed something?

Posted by Robert at March 22, 2007 08:21 AM | TrackBack
Comments

That is EXACTLY the appeal...and I'm a trumpet player... Carmina Burana is simply a fun piece to perform. I think a lot of people take it much more seriously than it was ever intended, but the sheer joy of performing it is the main draw for me.

Posted by: Matt Hurley at March 22, 2007 09:07 AM

As a singist, I can tell you that Burana is all about endurance. I'm a 2nd tenor, which means that composers hate my guts. They continually forget that we are less tenor in range and more frustrated baritone. Yet Orff, like so many of his contemporaries, shoots us up into the stratosphere as if we were Robert Goddard with a new rocket to test.

Whatcha need, for Burana, are the Heldentenors that Wagner loved so much. Best definition of a Heldentenor I've ever heard: "Baritone who stands on his testicles."

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Posted by: Woody at March 22, 2007 06:52 PM