CARMINA BURANA

CARL ORFF'S CARMINA BURANA
measure and then continuing directly
into the next measure;
• An eighth rest on the last beat of the measure
while still maintaining a tempo;
58 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 51 Number 4
• The marking was not recognized at all.
The problem lies in the fact that it is unclear
which of the fi ve circumstances Orff is suggesting.
Another challenging example comes
in movement 14 (In taberna) at measure 74
(Figure 2).
In this example, the four bars before the
Luftpause are a repetition of the same twobar
musical phrases. New musical material
follows the Luftpause.
The conductor could
interpret this marking
in all fi ve of the above
possible scenarios. Of
the surveyed recordings,
not one conductor
chose to observe this
marking at all. Unfortunately,
it is impossible
to offer a definitive
interpretation of Orff’s
intentions from the
results of this study.
Several additional issues
concerning interpretation
of the Luftpause are
discussed later.
Attacca Markings
Orff worked within
a concept he titled Theatrum
Mundi, in which
music, movement, and
speech were inseparable.
22 There is an
extreme element of
drama inherent in all
of Orff’s later works.
With this in mind, Orff
divided the twenty-fi ve
separate movements
of Carmina Burana into
five scenes. To keep
these scenes intact, each
movement within a
scene was marked attacca
to the subsequent
movement.
Of the surveyed
recordings, Mahler, Muti,
Sawallisch, Shaw and
Slatkin offered a strong
sense of scenic structure
and integrity. It
is worth noting that
Shaw is the only con-