ILLINOIS MARCHING BANDS: LONG TRADITIONS OF EXCELLENCE
Get to know a new one every few days right here!
Written Aug. 21
Shown at the left, Fortuna was the Roman goddess of fortune and the personification of luck.
The scenic cantata Carmina Burana, composed by Carl Orff in 1935-36, is a setting of 24 Latin poems written in the 11th-13th centuries.
The cantata has 25 movements, but the first and last open with the familiar “O Fortuna,” one of the best-known and most often quoted classical works. It has been used in TV commercials, movies, etc. Listen (Wikipedia).
“O Fortuna” is a complaint, but the cantata’s themes are just as familiar today as they were in the 13th century: fortune is fickle, life is ephemeral, spring will return, and drinking, gambling, lust, & gluttony are filled with both danger & pleasure.
See the Marching Rockets, led by director Elizabeth Judd, in performance of this renowned work this fall at football games and on
• Sept. 22 in Bartonville
• Sept. 29 in Geneseo
• Oct. 27 at Western Ill. Univ.
