(Note: It was a toss up between GQ and CS for this, but GQ won out as this presumably has an actual answer (despite that sheer deluge of lack of information on this topic (yeah, I know, someone will do a Google and find it on their first try. Always happens.)) plus (bet you had to go and read what I put before the brackets there, didn’t you?) CS is about discussing things, and this is about factual answers.)
So anyway, this will probably get moved to Cafe Society…
Most people would know (or at least have heard) “La Fortuna” (assuming that is its real name) song with the boom-boom-boom-boom! and all that. Different sources credit different people with it. One says it’s Wagner. Another says it was Orff in the only non-Wagner piece of Excalibur (under the title “Carmina Burana”) All those MP3 programs say about a billion different things (not that I’d trust them anyway).
So, does anyone have any sort of definitive answer to this query? It’s really annoying me…
I dunno what you mean “some people credit Wagner with writing it”. The entire piece is called the Carmina Burana and the music is by Carl Orff. Always has been, always will be.
The lyrics were provided courtesy of certain medieval writers.
The particular portion of it that you’re talking about is actually titled “O Fortuna”, not “La Fortuna”.
About Carl Orff.
Lyrics. “O Fortuna” both opens and closes the piece.
You should stop getting your information from other sources and stick with the Straight Dope.
Preview: Dang! Must learn to type faster than the Tame Alien.
Well, *actually[/]DDG… It was at this site that my confidence was shattered; I thought it was Orff… but someone acted surprised that anyone could think it was by anyone but Wagner. It shattered my whole world, and I didn’t know what to do…
