O Fortuna O Fortuna "O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem written early in the 13th century, part of the collection known as the "Carmina Burana". It is a complaint about Fortuna, the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman and Greek mythology. In 1935–36, "O Fortuna" was set to music by German composer Carl Orff as a part of "", the opening and closing movement of his cantata "Carmina Burana". It was first staged by the Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937. It opens at a slow pace with thumping drums and choir that drops quickly into
Carmina Burana act with the goddess of love herself, Venus. The "Carmina Burana" contains numerous poetic descriptions of a raucous medieval paradise (CB 195–207, 211, 217, 219), for which the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, known for his advocation of the blissful life, is even taken as an authority on the subject (CB 211). CB 219 describes, for example, an "ordo vagorum" (vagrant order) to which people from every land and clerics of all rankings were invited—even "presbyter cum sua matrona," or "a priest with his lady wife" (humorous because Catholic priests must swear an oath of celibacy). CB 215 even provides an