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
Carl Orff of considerable debate and analysis. His "Carmina Burana" was hugely popular in Nazi Germany after its premiere in Frankfurt in 1937. Given Orff's previous lack of commercial success, the monetary factor of "Carmina Burana"'s acclaim was significant to him. But the composition, with its unfamiliar rhythms, was also denounced with racist taunts. He was one of the few German composers under the Nazi regime who responded to the official call to write new incidental music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" after the music of Felix Mendelssohn had been banned. Defenders of Orff note that he had already composed music for