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balletbookworm's review
3.0
Back when I used to sing, I learned some of Orff's Carmina Burana (In Trutina especially, since that's a solo piece) but I'd never read any of the original poems.
Jump forward 25+ years and my dad surprised me with a book for Christmas (books as presents are tricky since it's likely I might already own it, lol) and got me the Penguin Classics selections from the Carmina Burana.
It's a really information volume, with a lot of notes about the sources, who may have written some of the original pieces, etc. Except, and this is kind of a complaint that I have about a lot of translated poetry, is that only a couple of lines of the original are listed as the header for each poem. I'd love a side-by-side translation because having to translate to English and then make it rhyme - because these pieces are often meant to be sung, in particular the ones meant for the local pub - causes a lot of massaging of the text. I also wish this employed footnotes in the text as opposed to only endnotes. I had flipping back and forth.
But I read these a bit at a time starting at Christmas and finished up during the #transrightsreadathon, so not really a book "for" the readathon but since many of the writers of these songs are unknown, who knows? Might not be 100% straight, cis people.
Jump forward 25+ years and my dad surprised me with a book for Christmas (books as presents are tricky since it's likely I might already own it, lol) and got me the Penguin Classics selections from the Carmina Burana.
It's a really information volume, with a lot of notes about the sources, who may have written some of the original pieces, etc. Except, and this is kind of a complaint that I have about a lot of translated poetry, is that only a couple of lines of the original are listed as the header for each poem. I'd love a side-by-side translation because having to translate to English and then make it rhyme - because these pieces are often meant to be sung, in particular the ones meant for the local pub - causes a lot of massaging of the text. I also wish this employed footnotes in the text as opposed to only endnotes. I had flipping back and forth.
But I read these a bit at a time starting at Christmas and finished up during the #transrightsreadathon, so not really a book "for" the readathon but since many of the writers of these songs are unknown, who knows? Might not be 100% straight, cis people.
_dunno_'s review
3.0
The only reason I read "Carmina Burana" is because I wanted to see the ballet performance of it and since it's in Latin, I also wanted to know what the lyrics are about.
The poetry in itself is not extraordinary - but I'm definitely NOT the person to make critical remarks on medieval poetry - I did like the love poems more than the moral and drinking ones, though. Actually, the poems were meant to be sung, so I'm not sure the term "poems" is entirely accurate.
Now, the performance. I had tickets for it 2 years ago, and because some heating problems the show had to be cancelled and hasn't been scheduled again until now. But when I wanted to buy tickets I found out I actually cannot go on that particular day because of work stuff. And now the show has disappeared from the Opera's web page and I really don't mind it being rescheduled so that I can go, but if they cancel it again for whatever reasons, I'm headed towards a breakdown, I promise.
Yeah, so of course everyone knows Carl Orff's version of it, but while reading the love and spring poems, the song I had in mind was Pain of Salvation's Imago. It sounds pretty medieval, you have to admit.
The poetry in itself is not extraordinary - but I'm definitely NOT the person to make critical remarks on medieval poetry - I did like the love poems more than the moral and drinking ones, though. Actually, the poems were meant to be sung, so I'm not sure the term "poems" is entirely accurate.
Now, the performance. I had tickets for it 2 years ago, and because some heating problems the show had to be cancelled and hasn't been scheduled again until now. But when I wanted to buy tickets I found out I actually cannot go on that particular day because of work stuff. And now the show has disappeared from the Opera's web page and I really don't mind it being rescheduled so that I can go, but if they cancel it again for whatever reasons, I'm headed towards a breakdown, I promise.
Yeah, so of course everyone knows Carl Orff's version of it, but while reading the love and spring poems, the song I had in mind was Pain of Salvation's Imago. It sounds pretty medieval, you have to admit.
guojing's review
4.0
This is probably my favorite book of poetry. Consistently charming and never a dull moment. I read some over and over, unable to feel content with only reading them once. I read them all aloud, which they are very suited to.
A few are particularly timeless, decrying corruption and other such vices as though describing modern day America. I will definitely be recommending this book to others and picking out quotations for use on their own.
A few are particularly timeless, decrying corruption and other such vices as though describing modern day America. I will definitely be recommending this book to others and picking out quotations for use on their own.
laviniag's review
3.0
The only reason I read "Carmina Burana" is because I wanted to see the ballet performance of it and since it's in Latin, I also wanted to know what the lyrics are about.
The poetry in itself is not extraordinary - but I'm definitely NOT the person to make critical remarks on medieval poetry - I did like the love poems more than the moral and drinking ones, though. Actually, the poems were meant to be sung, so I'm not sure the term "poems" is entirely accurate.
Now, the performance. I had tickets for it 2 years ago, and because some heating problems the show had to be cancelled and hasn't been scheduled again until now. But when I wanted to buy tickets I found out I actually cannot go on that particular day because of work stuff. And now the show has disappeared from the Opera's web page and I really don't mind it being rescheduled so that I can go, but if they cancel it again for whatever reasons, I'm headed towards a breakdown, I promise.
Yeah, so of course everyone knows Carl Orff's version of it, but while reading the love and spring poems, the song I had in mind was Pain of Salvation's Imago. It sounds pretty medieval, you have to admit.
The poetry in itself is not extraordinary - but I'm definitely NOT the person to make critical remarks on medieval poetry - I did like the love poems more than the moral and drinking ones, though. Actually, the poems were meant to be sung, so I'm not sure the term "poems" is entirely accurate.
Now, the performance. I had tickets for it 2 years ago, and because some heating problems the show had to be cancelled and hasn't been scheduled again until now. But when I wanted to buy tickets I found out I actually cannot go on that particular day because of work stuff. And now the show has disappeared from the Opera's web page and I really don't mind it being rescheduled so that I can go, but if they cancel it again for whatever reasons, I'm headed towards a breakdown, I promise.
Yeah, so of course everyone knows Carl Orff's version of it, but while reading the love and spring poems, the song I had in mind was Pain of Salvation's Imago. It sounds pretty medieval, you have to admit.
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