Amazing, powerful piece -- I always get goosebumps whenever I hear this. Glad to find
it online (the wonders of internet!) and know more about it. :)
Lyrics
O Fortuna O Fortune,
velut luna like the moon
statu variabilis, you are changeable,
semper crescis ever waxing
aut decrescis; and waning;
vita detestabilis hateful life
nunc obdurat first oppresses
et tunc curat and then soothes
ludo mentis aciem, as fancy takes it;
egestatem, poverty
potestatem and power
dissolvit ut glaciem. it melts them like ice.
Sors immanis Fate - monstrous
et inanis, and empty,
rota tu volubilis, you whirling wheel,
status malus, you are malevolent,
vana salus well-being is vain
semper dissolubilis, and always fades to nothing,
obumbrata shadowed
et velata and veiled
michi quoque niteris; you plague me too;
nunc per ludum now through the game
dorsum nudum I bring my bare back
fero tui sceleris. to your villainy.
Sors salutis Fate is against me
et virtutis in health
michi nunc contraria, and virtue,
est affectus driven on
et defectus and weighted down,
semper in angaria. always enslaved.
Hac in hora So at this hour
sine mora without delay
corde pulsum tangite; pluck the vibrating strings;
quod per sortem since Fate
sternit fortem, strikes down the string man,
mecum omnes plangite! everyone weep with me!
O Fortuna is the best-known part of Carmina Burana, a musical composition based on a
medieval manuscript that came to light in 1803 in a German monastery. There are
several hundred poems, which may be classified into satirical or moralizing lyrics
(carmina moralia); songs celebrating springtime and love (carmina veris et amoris);
gambling and drinking songs (carmina lusorum et potatorum), including goliardic verse,
and poems with religious content (carmina divina). [Sources here and here]
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