Technically Carmina Burana is a symphony, which includes a vocal chorus.
An opera is a play set to music.
One of my favorite symphony plus chorus is Beethovenfs 9th. He added a chorus to the fourth movement. Brilliant!
I always call it that too, but it’s actually O mio babbino caro. Just FYI.
I’m not sure there’s much point in re-re-re-mentioning the big three Mozart operas (Don Giovanni/Magic Flute/Marriage of Figaro), but they probably top my list of favorites. Handel’s Semele gets a mention, as does The Medium and (somewhat reluctantly) Amahl and the Night Visitors by Menotti. I also enjoy Monteverdi’s Orfeo, although the instrumental interludes all start to sound the same after a while.
I like the Ring cycle, but only in staged versions; I can’t sit and listen to a recording or radio broadcasting of it without losing interest. I find Verdi and Puccini inconsistent – some stunningly beautiful stuff mixed with some rather twee music. I have to be in a certain mood to enjoy Britten and Glass.
As for big choral hoohahs like Carmina Banana (;)) try Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, or Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky. You may also try Mahler’s various symphonic/choral offerings, although Mahler is not to my personal taste.
Incidentally, Orff has another big choral work called, IIRC, Catulli Carmina, which is less interesting IMO and less often performed.
Mmmm, Carmina Burana is not an easy piece to classify. I respectfully disagree with your opinion that it is a symphony with words - it’s more an overall theatre piece - the music doesn’t function too well without the words and chorus, and if you take away the music, all you have is a bunch of poetry by some dirty old monks.
Always the unending arguement - which is more important: the instrumental or the vocal?
Chronos - if I can also make some recommendations for large scale pieces (symphonies) with vocal ensembles/soloists
Symphony No. 2 [also known as the “Resurrection”] by Gustav Mahler - chorus and soloists
Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler - soloists, chorus and boy’s choir
Symphony No. 4 by Gustav Mahler - soprano soloist
Symphony No. 8 [also known as the “Symphony of a Thousand”] by Gustav Mahler - 7 soloists, double choir and boy’s choir
The Planets by Gustav Holst - wordless women’s choir
La Mer by Claude Deubssy - wordless women’s choir
Symphony No. 2 by Felix Mendelssohn - choir
Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky - smaller work, but wonderful choral work
I believe Carmina Burana is an oratorio.
Other oratorios to enjoy:The Messiah
Israel in Egypt
SqrlCub
I love Dido and Aeneas.It was after listening to the farewell song of Queen Dido that I got into opera.That was the very first aria I ever heard.
Forbin
Y’know, with as many times as I’ve listened to The Planets, I’d never noticed the vocals. I’ll have to play it again today.
Looks like I’m going to have to get myself a few CDs of Mahler.
Well, Mozart was just a super genius in music, and I’m yet another person whose fav operas are those of Mozart’s, Don Giovanni, Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute.
[sub]BTW, Ellen, how do you make umlauts?[/sub]
I think I began to like the operas Barber of Seville and Marriage of Figaro from Bugs Bunny cartoons as a child…
I also love Aida.
I’ve only seen in person the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore, which is pretty outrageous since I’m less than an hour’s drive from NYC.
Go ahead, feel sorry for me…
I like Mahler – I sang in the Third Symphony a few years ago and had a great time. Of course, since the choral part only lasts about four minutes, it entailed a lot of standing on stage doing nothing in uncomfortable shoes.
Forbin, I wouldn’t really classify Carmina Burana as an oratorio – oratorios generally tell a story with a religious theme and without stage action, though I’m not certain the former is always true. (All the famous oratorios I can think of are religious in nature, though.)
In fact, Orff originally envisioned CB as a theatrical work involving movement as well as music, but I’m not sure it’s ever performed that way anymore…
A couple of points:
- Bit of a caveat, Chronos - the choir parts for The Planets and La Mer are only in the final movement of each piece. Just so you are not expecting voices all the way through.
[Glad to see another Mahler junkie on the boards - If I can make another recommendation - get Das Lied von der Erde and Das Knaben Wunderhorn - both are song cycles for soloists. Further caveat: the Kindertotenlieder is the The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald of the classical world: beautiful stuff, but has the singular ability of pulling down the mood of any room in moments. Do not listen if you are depressed.
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A couple of years ago, the local symphony and the ballet performed Carmina Burana - very well received, and I am still kicking myself for missing it.
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The Anna Russell Album? - “How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera” and her synopsis of “The Ring of the Nibelungs” - priceless
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The Glory of the Human Voice - screamingly funny (and I mean that both ways).
NOTE: No Opals were invoked in the creation of this post.
- And how could I forget P.D.Q. Bach’s The Stoned Guest?
Hi, Green Lady
Umlauts are created by going to START, choosing PROGRAMS, choosing ACCESSORIES, then choosing CHARACTER MAP. When the map comes up, simply click on the umlaut you would like and the directions for making it will appear in the box on the right hand side of the map. For instance: The umlaut for ü will appear like this: “Keystroke: Alt+ 0252”
Quasi
Hi, Green Lady
Umlauts are created by going to START, choosing PROGRAMS, choosing ACCESSORIES, then choosing CHARACTER MAP. When the map comes up, simply click on the umlaut you would like and the directions for making it will appear in the box on the right hand side of the map. For instance: The umlaut for ü will appear like this: “Keystroke: Alt+ 0252”
Quasi
Hi, Green Lady
Umlauts are created by going to START, choosing PROGRAMS, choosing ACCESSORIES, then choosing CHARACTER MAP. When the map comes up, simply click on the umlaut you would like and the directions for making it will appear in the box on the right hand side of the map. For instance: The umlaut for ü will appear like this: “Keystroke: Alt+ 0252”
Quasi
Hi, Green Lady
Umlauts are created by going to START, choosing PROGRAMS, choosing ACCESSORIES, then choosing CHARACTER MAP. When the map comes up, simply click on the umlaut you would like and the directions for making it will appear in the box on the right hand side of the map. For instance: The umlaut for ü will appear like this: “Keystroke: Alt+ 0252”
Quasi
Hi, Green Lady
Umlauts are created by going to START, choosing PROGRAMS, choosing ACCESSORIES, then choosing CHARCACTER MAP. When the map comes up, simply click on the umlaut you would like and the directions for making it will appear in the box on the right hand side of the map. For instance: The umlaut for ü will appear like this: “Keystroke: Alt+ 0252”
Quasi
Sorry, but I kept getting a GATEWAY TIMEOUT and didn’t think the post went through. Want me to put my nose into the circle on the blackboard?
:o
Sorry, really.
Quasi
Naw.
No need to Quasi.
It just reminds us of a baroque aria!
I think you’re right.
Somehow though I have it stuck in my mind that CB is a secular oratorio.
Forbin
Hey, Quasi – many thanks!
I’m with bean_shadow. Don Giovanni is my favorite. I love the part where Il Commendatore is singing along with Giovanni and his servant. Three baritone parts all twined together! Thrills my soul!
I saw it performed as a ballet about ten years ago – it works very well. (Obviously, the chorus weren’t the ones dancing!)