Although the general tone is often clear, I often cannot quite understand what many of the phrases literally mean. Unfortunately, I find many of the Latin lyrics as opaque as the phrase above and would like some help understanding them. “Carmina Burana” means “Songs from (Benedikt) Beuern.” They present what seem to be four main themes: the fickleness of fate, the glory of springtime, gambling, and romantic love. I can’t quite get a literal translation to make sense in English, but I understand it to mean the following: “It is true what is said: 'Though opportunity has hair on its forehead (that can be grasped), it often shows a bald head in back as it goes by (with no more hair to grab onto).'”Īs I understand it, the lyrics of Carmina Burana come from Latin poems written by disaffected university students and clerics of the late middle ages, found in a manuscript in Benediktbeuern, Germany. Although mostly in medieval Latin, it has one of my favorite Latin phrases: Verum est quod legitur, fronte capillata sed plerumque sequitur occasio calvata. I very much enjoy Carl Orff’s musical work Carmina Burana.
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