| Track of the Day - 7/9/2007 |
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Carl Orff - O Fortuna
Listen to O Fortuna on Rhapsody
It is time to get back to talking about horror tracks. The trip went fantastic, but left me a little drained and with more work than I was expecting. But, more on that at a later date in a later column for a later (new - coming soon) section. Here, we are concerned with music and an e-mail exchange over the weekend helped me realize that I had not yet discussed one of the more powerful and recognized tunes associated with horror out there. So with thanks to Nanci, let's take a look at Carl Orff's opus, O Fortuna from the musical composition, Carmina Burana.
Everyone has heard it. The bombastic instruments, the chorus almost chanting in Latin, the simple meter, and the building crescendo that takes the listener on a ride of emotion with a crushing and exhausting climax. It seems to reek menace, foretell some apocalyptic end, and/or harkens the arrival of some satanic forces. In fact, if the devil was ever to have a theme song just for just him, it really should be O Fortuna. And it is well renowned as being one of the more prevalent compositions used in the horror genre... But hold up! While it does have that reputation, the truth is actually quite different. In fact, O Fortuna's connection to horror is a bit tenuous at best.
Before we get into that, let's get just a little background on the song. O Fortuna is one of those songs that seem to immediately invoke the imagery of the dark ages or ancient battles between good and evil. So how old is this composition anyway? Would you believe it was composed between those long ago years of 1935 and 1936? That's right, the composition of Carmina Burana is a 20th Century piece of work. In fact, it is one of the most well known compositions from Nazi Germany and one of the few that didn't completely freak them out and cause them to burn it and/or send Orff scurrying away from his homeland of Germany. Maybe its ancient feel comes from the source inspiration. It was based off a 13th Century collection of poems and songs (though Orff's composition is completely original), but we'll get into that at a later date when we revisit the song in the future.
O Fortuna is the opening and closing number of Orff's Carmina Burana. Fortuna translates to Fortune, or the classic imagery of "Lady Luck". The lyrics are an ode to the hands of fate and how they can change at any given moment. Below are the Latin lyrics with a rough translation into English.
Hac in hora (So at this hour)
Sine mora (Without delay)
Corde pulsum tangite; (Pluck the vibrating strings;)
Quod per sortem (Since Fate)
Sternit fortem, (Strikes down the string man,)
Mecum omnes plangite! (Everyone weep with me!)
Let's go back to its connection to the horror genre. Perhaps because of the dark and ancient imagery it invokes, the song is commonly attributed to various horror films that deal with religion and/or the devil, such as The Omen or The Exorcist. While it was surely an influence for Jerry Goldsmith's soundtrack to The Omen (and main song, Ave Satani), it wasn't actually used for the film. In fact, I can think of only a couple horror films offhand that used the song in their soundtrack - Needful Things and Natural Born Killers. Outside films, the composition has been used several times by horror musicians, but we'll cover that in the future as well.
It was most famously used in John Boorman's epic 1981 King Arthur classic, Excalibur. Perhaps Boorman's connection to the Exorcist series (he directed The Exorcist II: The Heretic) is why it is often associated with that series as well. It has been used in countless trailers (some of which were horror, though the composition didn't actually make it into the film's soundtrack), commercials and other non-horror films. Despite O Fortuna's limited connection to horror films, it continues to be associated with the genre to this day. Given the ferocity and feeling of impending doom of the work, I guess it isn't much of a surprise.
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July 9, 2007, 5:29 pm |
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