Carl Orff's O Fortuna in popular culture a direct version of it. Carl Orff's O Fortuna in popular culture In 1935–36, the 13th-century poem "O Fortuna" was set to music by the German composer Carl Orff for his twenty-five-movement cantata "Carmina Burana". The composition appears in numerous films and television commercials and has become a staple in popular culture, setting the mood for dramatic or cataclysmic situations. For instance, it is used to portray the torment of Jim Morrison's drug addiction in the film "The Doors." In 1983, Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek released his third solo album, "Carmina Burana", which is an interpretation of the piece in
Carmina Burana Carmina Burana Carmina Burana (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" ["Buria" in Latin]) is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent, and satirical. They were written principally in Medieval Latin, a few in Middle High German, and some with traces of Old French. Some are macaronic, a mixture of Latin and German or French vernacular. They were written by students and clergy when the Latin idiom was the lingua franca throughout Italy and western Europe for travelling scholars, universities,