- Tanz (instrumental)
- Floret silva nobilis
- Reie (instrumental)
Chume, chum geselle min II. In Taberna III. Cour d’Amours
- Dies, nox, et omnia
- Stetit puella
- Circa mea pectora
- Veni, veni, venias
- In trutina
- Tempus est iocundum
- Dulcissime
- O Fortuna (reprise)
Translation provided by tylatin.org and classical.net
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The uncertainty of Fortune was a regular motif in medieval literature; various symbols and examples of her caprice became commonplace. Of the several poems in the Carmina Burana on this subject the following is certainly not the best; its vagueness suggests that some expressions may have been chosen simply through the demands of rhyme. It is, however, considerably enhanced by the musical setting which Orff has given it. Some phrases deserve comment:
mentis aciem in Classical Latin the words would mean mental perception, but this seems wholly out of place here; perhaps feelings, sensibilities, is what the author meant.
status malus this seems to refer to the instability of Fortune.
est affectus … angaria the last word signifies the service (usually in the form of manual work) which a medieval serf was obliged to render to his lord.
affectus et defectus apparently means willingness and unwillingness: in the translation the concrete has been substituted for the abstract.
cordae pulsum tangite lit. touch the beat of the string.
O Fortuna,
velut Luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem;
egestatem,
potestatem,
dissolvit ut glaciem.
O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
ever waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
playing with mental clarity;
poverty
and power
it melts them like ice.
Sors immanis
et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis;
obumbrata
et velata
mihi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.
Fate – monstrous
and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
devoid of security
and ever fading to nothing,
shadowed
and veiled
you plague me too;
now through the game
I bring my bare back
to your villainy.
Sors salutis
et virtutis
mihi nunc contraria;
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria.
hac in hora
sine mora
cordae pulsum tangite!
quod per sortem
sternit fortem,
mecum omnes plangite!
Fate, in health
and virtue
is against me,
driven on
and weighted down,
always enslaved.
So at this hour
without delay
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate
strikes down the strong,
everyone weep with me!
Another song against Fortune, rather more clearly expressed than the previous one. In the first stanza Opportunity is described as having hair only on the front of her head – she can be seized as she approaches, but once she has passed, a person grabs futilely at the back of her head. In the second and third stanzas reference is made to the Wheel of Fortune, a common motif in the Middle Ages and often represented in art, where it was conceived as a primitive Ferris wheel accommodating four – one up, one down, one about to achieve prosperity, one about to be plunged into misery. The name of Hecuba was a suitable inscription for the axle as she was the supreme example of Fortune’s malice. From being Queen of Troy, after its sack she suffered such misery as a captive of the Greeks that the gods, out of pity, turned her into a dog.
Fortunae plango vulnera
stillantibus ocellis,
quod sua mihi munera
subtrahit rebellis.
verum est, quod legitur
fronte capillata,
sed plerumque sequitur
Occasio calvata.
I mourn the blows of Fortune
with flowing eyes,
because her gifts
she has treacherously taken back from me.
Opportunity is rightly described as
having hair on her forehead,
but there usually follows
the bald patch at the back.
In Fortunae solio
sederam elatus,
prosperitatis vario
flore coronatus;
quicquid enim florui
felix et beatus
nunc a summo corrui
gloria privatus.
On the throne of Fortune
I had sat elated,
crowned with the gay flower
of prosperity;
however much I flourished,
happy and blessed,
now I have fallen from the pinnacle,
deprived of my glory.
Fortunae rota volvitur;
descendo minoratus;
alter in altum tollitur;
nimis exaltatus
rex sedet in vertice
caveat ruinam!
nam sub axe legimus
Hecubam reginam.
The wheel of Fortune turns;
I sink, debased;
another is raised up;
lifted too high,
a king sits on the topólet
him beware of ruin!
Under the axle we read,
Queen Hecuba.
A spring song.
Veris leta facies
mundo propinatur.
Hiemalis acies
victa iam fugatur.
in vestitu vario Flora principatur,
nemorum dulcisono
que cantu celebratur.
The happy face of Spring
comes to the world.
The army of Winter,
conquered, is now put to flight.
In gay clothes Flora rules,
and she is praised by the sweet
sound of the woods.
Flore fusus gremio
Phebus novo more
risum dat, hoc vario
iam stipate flore.
Zephyrus nectareo
spirans it odore.
certatum pro bravio
curramus in amore.
Stretched out in the lap of Flora
Phoebus in his new way
laughs – she is now covered
with these gay flowers.
Zephyrus goes blowing
the scent of nectar.
In competition for the prize
let us run in the race of love.
Cytharizat cantico
dulcis Philomena.
flore rident vario
prata iam serena.
salit coetus avium
silve per amena.
chorus promit virginum
iam gaudia millena.
Sweet Philomela accompanies
her song with the lyre.
The fields, now bright,
smile with gay flowers.
A flock of birds hop through
the pleasant places of the wood.
A dancing band of girls
now brings a thousand joys.
A spring song.
Ecce gratum
et optatum
Ver reducit gaudia.
purpuratum
floret pratum.
Sol serenat omnia.
iamiam cedant tristia!
estas redit,
nunc recedit
Hyemis sevitia.
Behold, the welcome
and desirable
Spring brings back joys.
The brightly coloured
meadow is in flower.
The sun brightens everything.
Now let sorrows depart!
Summer returns,
now the rage
of Winter retires.
Iam liquescit
et decrescit
grando, nix et cetera.
Bruma fugit,
et iam sugit
Ver estatis ubera.
illi mens est misera,
qui nec vivit,
nec lascivit
sub estatis dextera.
Now hail, snow
and the rest turn to water
and flow away.
Winter flees
and already Spring
sucks at the breasts of Summer.
He bears an unhappy heart
who neither lives
nor plays
under Summer’s right hand.
Gloriantur
et letantur
in melle dulcedinis
qui conantur,
ut utantur
premio Cupidinis.
simus iussu Cypridis
gloriantes
et letantes
pares esse Paridis.
They who strive
to enjoy the
reward of Cupid rejoice
and take pleasure
in honey sweetness.
Let us be at the command
of the Cyprian (Venus),
glorying and rejoicing
to be the equals of Paris.
A love song in Latin and Middle High German.
Floret silva nobilis
floribus et foliis.
ubi est antiquus meus amicus?
hinc equitavit.
eia, quis me amabit?
The noble forest is in bloom
with flowers and leaves.
Where is my old companion?
He has ridden away.
Alas, who will love me?
Floret silva undique.
Nach mime gesellen ist mir we.
Gruonet der walt allenthalben,
wa ist min geselle also lange?
Der ist geriten hinnen.
Owi, wer sol mich minnen?
The forest is in bloom on all sides.
I grieve for my companion.
The forest is green on all sides.
Why is my companion so long?
He has ridden away.
Alas, who will love me?
(+ Chume, chum, geselle min)
A combination of two songs. The first stanza is a dancing song for girls and uses an old trick of expressing a wish which is exactly the opposite of what one really wants. The idea behind this odd practice is that some higher power (Luck, Fortune, or something of the sort) controls our everyday lives and, being totally perverse, always effects the opposite of what a person states his wish to be. Stanzas two and three form a love song. Middle High German.
Swaz hie gat umbe,
daz sint allez megede,
die wellent an man
alle disen sumer gan.
Those who dance
around here are all girls
who wish to spend
all this summer without men.
Chume, chum, geselle min,
ih enbite harte din,
ih enbite harte din,
chume, chum, geselle min.
Come, come, my beloved,
I am awaiting you with desire,
I am awaiting you with desire,
come, come, my beloved.
Suozer rosenvarwer munt,
chum unde mache mich gesunt,
chum unde mache mich gesunt,
suozer rosenvarwer munt.
Sweet mouth, the colour of roses,
come and make me well,
come and make me well,
sweet mouth, the colour of roses.
It has been suggested that these lines refer to the wife of Henry II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine, a celebrated beauty who died in 1204. Middle High German.
Were diu werlt alle min
von dem mere unze an den Rin,
des wolt ih mih darben
daz diu chunegin von Engellant
lege an minen armen.
If the world were all mine
from the sea up to the Rhine,
this I would willingly forego
to have the queen of England
lie in my arms.
This poem is the only one in our selection which can be assigned to a particular author as it has survived in manuscripts other than that of the Carmina Burana. It is the work of the Archipoeta, a wandering scholar of the twelfth century whose real name is unknown. The stanzas given below are only five out of over twenty. The poem seems to have been famous in the late Middle Ages as it vividly expresses the spirit of the Ordo Vagorum.
Estuans interius
ira vehementi
in amaritudine
loquor meae menti;
factus de materia,
cinis elementi,
similis sum folio,
de quo ludunt venti.
Burning inwardly
with strong anger,
in my bitterness
I speak to my soul;
created out of matter,
ashes of the earth,
I am like a leaf
with which the winds play.
Cum sit enim proprium
viro sapienti
supra petram ponere
sedem fundamenti,
stultus ego comparor
fluvio labenti
sub eodem tramite
numquam permanenti.
Whereas it is proper
for a wise man
to place his foundations
on rock,
I, in my folly,
am like a flowing river,
never staying
on the same course.
Feror ego veluti
sine nauta navis,
ut per vias aeris
vaga fertur avis;
non me tenent vincula,
non me tenet clavis;
quero mihi similes,
et adiungor pravis.
I am borne along
like a ship without a sailor,
just as a wandering bird
is carried along paths of air;
chains do not keep me
nor does a key;
I seek men like myself,
and I am joined with rogues.
Mihi cordis gravitas
res videtur gravis;
iocus est amabilis
dulciorque favis;
quicquid Venus imperat,
labor est suavis,
que numquam in cordibus
habitat ignavis.
For me a serious heart
is too serious a matter;
a joke is pleasant and
sweeter than honeycombs;
whatever Venus orders
is pleasant toil;
she never dwells
in faint hearts.
Via lata gradior
more iuventutis,
implicor et vitiis
immemor virtutis,
voluptatis avidus
magis quam salutis,
mortuus in anima
curam gero cutis.
I go on the broad way
after the manner of youth;
and I entangle myself in vice,
forgetful of virtue;
greedy for pleasure
more than for salvation,
I, dead in my soul,
attend to the needs of my flesh.
A swansong, precisely so called.
Olim lacus colueram,
olim pulcher exstiteram,
dum cygnus ego fueram.
Miser, miser!
modo niger
et ustus fortiter!
Once I had dwelt on lakes,
once I had been beautiful,
when I was a swan.
Poor wretch!
Now black
and well roasted!
Girat, regirat garcifer;
me rogus urit fortiter;
propinat me nunc dapifer.
Miser, miser!
modo niger
et ustus fortiter!
The cook turns me back and forth;
I am roasted to a turn on my pyre;
now the waiter serves me.
Poor wretch!
Now black
and well roasted!
Nunc in scutella iaceo,
et volitare nequeo;
dentes frendentes video.
Miser, miser!
modo niger
et ustus fortiter!
Now I lie on the dish,
and I cannot fly;
I see the gnashing teeth.
Poor wretch!
Now black
and well roasted!
A mock liturgy. Several parodies of a religious nature have survived from the Middle Ages; this one is put in the mouth of the Abbot of Never-never land, Cockaigne. Secta Decii was an expression used of gamblers; wafna is apparently an expletive used by the Abbot’s victim to express his sorrow and anger; the last three lines are addressed by the latter to Luck, not to the Abbot.
Ego sum abbas Cucaniensis
et consilium meum est cum bibulis,
et in secta Decii voluntas mea est,
et qui mane me quaesierit in taberna
post vesperam nudus egredietur,
et sic denudatus veste clamabit:
Wafna, wafna! quid fecisti, Sors turpissima?
nostrae vitae gaudia
abstulisti omnia!
I am the Abbot of Cockaigne
and my counsel is with soaks,
and my pleasure is in the order of gamblers
and whoever seeks me early in the tavern
will leave naked after vespers,
and stripped of his clothing he will cry:
Wafna, wafna! What have you done, Luck most foul!
You have taken away
all the joys of our life!
The love song of a man in Latin and Old French. In the last stanza glacies should be in the genitive; the following line is here punctuated to suggest a break in the construction, but it may be corrupt.
Dies, nox, et omnia
mihi sunt contraria;
virginum colloquia
me fay planszer,
oy suvenz suspirer,
plu me fay temer.
Day, night, everything
is hostile to me;
the talk of maidens
makes me weep,
alas! makes me sigh often,
makes me more afraid.
O sodales, ludite,
vos qui scitis dicite,
mihi maesto parcite,
grand ey dolur,
attamen consulite
per voster honur.
O friends, make merry,
speak to me, you who know,
have mercy on me in my misery;
my pain is great,
but advise me
for your honour’s sake.
Tua pulchra facies,
me fay planszer milies,
pectus habens glacies,
a ramender …
statim vivus
fierem per un baser.
Your fair face
makes me weep a thousand times,
but your heart is ice;
to restore me…
immediately would I return to life
with one kiss.
A girl stood in a red dress; if anyone touched it, the dress rustled. Eia!
Your fair face makes me weep a thousand times, but your heart is ice; to restore me …immediately would I return to life with one kiss.
stetit puella,
tamquam rosula;
facie splenduit,
os eius floruit.
eia!
A girl stood
like a little rose;
her face shone
and her mouth bloomed,
Eia!
The love song in Latin and Middle High German, which is put in the mouth of a man whose intentions were clearly not honourable. The expression manda liet appears to be a combination of the imperative of the Latin mando and the MHG liet (Mod. German Lied).
Circa mea pectora
multa sunt suspiria
de tua pulchritudine,
quae me laedunt misere.
Manda liet, manda liet,
min geselle
chumet niet.
In my heart
there are many sighs
for your beauty
which torture me miserably.
Send a message, send a message,
my beloved
does not come.
Tui lucent oculi
sicut solis radii,
sicut splendor fulguris
lucem donat tenebris.
Manda liet, manda liet,
min geselle
chumet niet.
Your eyes shine
like the rays of the sun,
like a flash of lightning
which gives light to darkness.
Send a message, send a message,
my beloved
does not come.
Vellet Deus,
vellent dii,
quod mente proposui,
ut eius virginea
reserassem vincula.
Manda liet,
manda liet,
min geselle
chumet niet.
May God grant,
may the gods grant,
what I have set myself to do,
and that is,
to unlock the bonds of her virginity.
Send a message,
send a message,
my beloved
does not come.
The love song of a man. The third and fourth lines have so far defied analysis.
Veni, veni, venias,
ne me mori facias,
hyrca, hyrce, nazara;
trilirivos.
Come, come, please come,
don’t make me die,
hyrca, hyrce, nazara,
trilirivos.
Pulchra tibi facies,
oculorum acies,
capillorum series;
o quam clara species!
Beautiful is your face,
the glance of your eyes,
the tresses of your hair;
oh how beautiful is your appearance!
Rosa rubicundior,
Lilio candidior,
omnibus formosior;
semper in te glorior!
You are redder than the rose,
brighter than the lily,
more beautiful than all;
you are my constant pride!
The love song of a woman.
In trutina mentis dubia
fluctuant contraria
lascivus amor et pudicitia.
Sed eligo quod video,
collum iugo praebeo;
ad iugum tamen suave transeo.
In my mind’s wavering balance
wanton love and chastity
sway in opposite scales.
But I choose what I see,
I offer my neck to the yoke;
to a yoke so sweet I cross.
A love song sung in parts.
Tempus est iocundum,
o virgines,
modo congaudete
vos iuvenes.
It is the time of joy,
O maidens,
now enjoy yourselves together,
O young men.
Oh – oh, totus fioreo,
iam amore virginali
totus ardeo,
novus, novus amor est,
quo pereo.
Oh, oh, I am all aflower,
now with my first love
I am all afire,
a new love it is
of which I am dying.
Mea me comfortat
promissio,
mea me deportat
negatio.
I am elated
when I say yes;
I am depressed
when I say no.
Oh – oh, totus floreo,
iam amore virginali
totus ardeo,
novus, novus amor est,
quo pereo.
Oh, oh, I am all aflower,
now with my first love
I am all afire,
a new love it is
of which I am dying.
Tempore brumali
vir patiens,
animo vernali
lasciviens.
In the time of winter
a man is sluggish,
when spring is in his heart
he is wanton.
Oh – oh, totus floreo,
iam amore virginali
totus ardeo,
novus, novus amor est,
quo pereo.
Oh, oh, I am all aflower,
now with my first love
I am all afire,
a new love it is
of which I am dying.
Mea mecum ludit
virginitas,
mea me detrudit
simplicitas.
My innocence
plays with me,
my shyness
pushes me back.
Oh – oh, totus floreo,
iam amore virginali
totus ardeo,
novus, novus amor est,
quo pereo.
Oh, oh, I am all aflower,
now with my first love
I am all afire,
a new love it is
of which I am dying.
Veni, domicella,
cum gaudio;
veni, veni, pulchra,
iam pereo.
Come, my mistress,
with your joy *;
come, come, fair girl,
already I die.
Oh – oh, totus floreo,
iam amore virginali
totus ardeo,
novus, novus amor est,
quo pereo.
Oh, oh, I am all aflower,
now with my first love
I am all afire,
a new love it is
of which I am dying.
The love song of a woman.
Dulcissime,
totam tibi subdo me!
Sweetest of men,
I give myself to you wholly!
The love song of a man who in the last two lines puts his mistress on a par with Blancheflour, the heroine of a celebrated medieval romance, then Helen of Troy, and finally Venus herself.
Ave formosissima,
gemma pretiosa,
ave, decus virginum,
virgo gloriosa,
ave, mundi luminar,
ave, mundi rosa,
Blanziflor et Helena,
Venus generosa.
Hail, fairest of women,
precious gem,
hail, glory of maidens,
noble maiden,
hail, light of the world,
hail, rose of the world,
you are Blancheflour and Helen,
[even] noble Venus.