Catulli Carmina Catulli Carmina Catulli Carmina ("Songs of Catullus") is a cantata by Carl Orff dating from 1940–1943. He described it as "ludi scaenici" (scenic plays). The work mostly sets poems of the Latin poet Catullus to music, with some text by the composer. "Catulli Carmina" is part of "Trionfi", the musical triptych that also includes the "Carmina Burana" and "Trionfo di Afrodite". It is scored for a full mixed choir, soprano and tenor soloists, and an entirely percussive orchestra – possibly inspired by Stravinsky's "Les noces" – consisting of four pianos, timpani, bass drum, 3 tambourines, triangle, castanets, maracas, suspended and
Carmina Burana (Orff) movement, the wheel of fortune turns, joy turning to bitterness, and hope turning to grief. "O Fortuna", the first poem in the Schmeller edition, completes this circle, forming a compositional frame for the work through being both the opening and closing movements. Orff developed a dramatic concept he called "Theatrum Mundi" in which music, movement, and speech were inseparable. Babcock writes that "Orff's artistic formula limited the music in that every musical moment was to be connected with an action on stage. It is here that modern performances of "Carmina Burana" fall short of Orff's intentions." Although "Carmina Burana" was