At this point, I can't resist jumping in. I have researched and written a
concert program note on Orff's "Carmina Burana." Here is my paragraph on the
origin of Orff's music:
Where did the title and text of Carmina Burana originate? The title
means "songs of Buren," referring to the Monastery of Benediktbeuern in
Bavaria. There, during the 19th century, researchers discovered a manuscript
containing a rich collection of 13th-century song texts (only a few with
accompanying music). These were songs of the Goliards, medieval scholars and
clerics who wandered about Europe from university to university. Their Latin
verses richly depicted life in the Middle Ages. In 1847, the texts of the
Carmina Burana were edited and published in book form. Then, in 1935, Orff
encountered the book. It so sparked the composer's imagination that he
immediately struck out in a new direction of musical and theatrical style,
which, in the words of Henry Pleasants, returned "to the fundamentals of
song and dance, to a music more closely related to speech and gesture and
situation."
So, it appears, Orff had no reference to any of the staffless neumes in the
original ms. As a side note, in 1981, Telefunken released an LP of music
from the ms. Not being a medievalist, I have no idea how the performers were
able to interpret the staffless neumes. Also, I don't know if "tempus est
iocundum" is included on this LP.
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: bill kilpatrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:31 PM
To: lute list
Subject: [LUTE] reply from SCHOTT MUSIC GmbH
just received a reply from the legal and copyright department of
SCHOTT MUSIC GmbH that states the music in some "tempus est iocundum"
videos on youtube - mine included - was composed by carl orff and is
copyright protected.
how they came to this conclusion eludes me. -!i do not read music - i
play by ear. -!in some degree it's flattering that my warbling and
wizardry on the oud should conform to a composer of orff's renown.
as stated previously, i learned the tune from someone who learned it
from the ex-director of our group ... who subsequently writes that he
transcribed the music from the codex catalog buranus CB 179, using
modern notation.
i've subsequently learned that in the original manuscript, the tunes -
as such - were indicated by neumes or "breaths" - with the melody
being merely suggested. i don't know if neumes are present for the
"tempus" folio but i understand that orff is believed to have composed
the music for his "carmina burana" all by himself - without any
reference (i would assume) to these original neumes.
you've no-doubt played this piece a thousand times. i've not been able
to hear any other transcription of the piece (binkley's in particular)
but i wonder how different these versions can be?
whether the melody i used is accidentally orff's or not is beside the
point (imho) as the copyright will expire in 30-something years and as
a 60-something optimist ... i WILL be there!
more than anything else i think it's sad that SCHOTT has stooped to
snooping on the amateurs of youtube for big league copyright
infringement.
- bill
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=billkilpatrick
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