Chichester Cinema at New Park
O, FORTUNA!
- Carl Orff & Carmina Burana
The 18th Chichester International Film Festival
Focus on the DOCUMENTARY: Premieres and Previews
Carmina Burana is one of the most popular pieces of music ever written, and that has been the fact for the last 30 years and shows no sign of abating. Even more astonishing is that there exist in the present CD catalogue more than 300 different recordings.
But what is the true story of how this extraordinary work came about and in particular the twisted and agonised life of its creator, Carl Orff? At his death in 1982 very little was known or understood about his association with the Nazi Party in Germany, for instance. Although Bavarian and living only a stone’s throw from Hitler’s Munich apartment, it was clear that Orff had never been an active member of the Nazi Party nor implicated in any of that regime’s more horrific crimes. But he had been arrested after the war, and although cleared by a de-Nazification tribunal, the suspicion remained that he had been manoeuvring himself to become Reichsminister for Music after the ‘final victory’.
And yet against this macabre background Orff created a system of teaching music – Schulwerk, Schoolwork – that although intended originally for the Hitler Youth Movement, is now widely practiced across the world and is even used to help (and it really does) children suffering from cerebral palsy.
Filmed in Germany, China, Japan, South Africa, Austria, Greece and England, this 2-hour documentary paints a deeply moving portrait of a tormented soul wracked by guilt, whose music nonetheless shines through with undeniable sexual power. With substantial extracts from Carmina Burana, his operas Oedipus, Prometheus and Antigonae, Der Mond, Catulli Carmina, Die Bernauerin & Die Kluge, often using Orff’s original orchestrations and dynamic markings, the music sounds totally fresh today.
This film uncovers for the first time the tragedy that befell Orff and the nightmare he endured by way of expiation. Drawing extensively on Orff’s personal reminiscences and correspondence, plus exclusive interviews with three of his surviving wives and his only daughter, a tale of almost unbelievable sadness emerges. Except that it is true.
We are delighted to welcome the director TONY PALMER to introduce his film and a Q&A following the screening.
UK · 2008 · Tony Palmer · 116min
