National Theater of Opera and Ballet puts on stage the ballet:
“Carmina Burana”
On 19th and 20th of March, at 7 p.m., at Arturbina
Performs: NTOB Ballet Troupe
Composer: Carl Orff
Choreographer: Youri Vámos
Almost all the work of German composer and playwright Carl Orff is somehow related to the theater, to which he dedicated over 15 works. However, the Orff Theater is an unusual phenomenon, which stands “outside the corners of tradition”. This is not a drama or opera. It is a universal synthetic musical show that uses elements from different theatrical forms. Amidst them, the old, “pre-opera” forms predominate, accompanied by street carnivals, medieval masters, Italian mask comedy, puppet theater, elements of choreography, pantomime and oratorio. Music plays a very important role in this performance, but at the same time, it functions on equal terms with other arts.
Carmina Burana / O Fortuna
Between 1935 and 1936, German composer Carl Orff composed the music he titled Carmina Burana, based on the 24 Carmina Burana poems, contained in an important thirteenth-century manuscript, Codex or Codex Latinus Monacensis Buranus, coming from the monastery of Benedictbeuern and is now preserved in the National Library of Monaco, Bavaria. Carmina Burana is considered one of the first classical works in the history of music. In the cry of “O Fortuna” to the goddess of fortune, the prayer for love and fortune appears. The fateful wheel of Fortuna is symbolic of the ups and downs of human life with the circles of tension in exchanges between man and woman, old and young. This work during which an exhilarating anthem of sincere love unfolds awakens fantasy like no other in the 20th century.
Carmina Burana with coreography by Youri Vámos
“Carmina Burana” is a dialogue between a man and a woman, in constant seeking and attraction of one another. And in this erotic rush, between violence and lies, love is what will eventually survive. “Carmina Burana” remains an artistic experience pinned to the memory of every spectator. Youri Vámos’ ballet to Carl Orff’s music (1895–1982) was first performed in 1985 at the Berlin State Theater.
Youri Vámos
He was born in Budapest, where he also attended the State Ballet School. After performing as a soloist at the Hungarian State Opera, he won a contract as the first soloist at the Bavarian State Opera. Since then, he has had most of his career in Germany. After his career as a soloist, he directed several theaters, such as that of Dortmund, Bonn, and Basel. Wherever he worked, he surprised the public with the original variants of the way he told stories through movements. The central theme of his choreography in “Carmina Burana” is man’s attitude towards the laws of nature. He who rises against the harmony within is destined to fail.