Lament · c. 1210 · Europe
O Fortuna
A Latin poem from about 800 years ago about Fortune, who spins a wheel that lifts people up and throws them down.
- Words
- anonymous
- Culture
- Goliards, the Latin poets of the Carmina Burana
- Language
- Latin
- Place
- not known (preserved in the Benediktbeuern manuscript of the Carmina Burana)
- Date
- early 13th century
- Type
- Lament
- The words
- Public domain (anonymous Goliardic poem, early 13th century)
The story
"O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem of uncertain authorship, written in the early 13th century. It belongs to the collection known as the Carmina Burana, preserved in the Benediktbeuern manuscript. The poem is a complaint against Fortuna, in Roman mythology the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals.
Its subject belongs with a familiar medieval image, the Rota Fortunae or Wheel of Fortune, which the goddess spins at random so that some people suffer while others find wealth; the wheel appears in the version of the collection known as the Codex Buranus. Writing in Harper's, Scott Horton observed that the text shows how few people of its time "felt any control over their own destiny", while it also "rings with a passion for life".
The poem reached a wide modern audience through a later work. In 1934 the German composer Carl Orff came across the collection and, with the Latin and Greek enthusiast Michel Hofmann, chose and arranged 24 of its poems into a libretto. His cantata Carmina Burana, composed in 1935–1936 and first staged by the Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937, opens and closes with "O Fortuna" in the sections titled "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" ("Fortune, Empress of the World"). Orff's setting is a separate, much later work that is still in copyright.
Through that setting the medieval words became one of the most widely heard pieces of classical music. In 2009 it topped a BBC list of the most widely heard classical tracks of the previous 75 years in the United Kingdom. Its use in film trailers, television and advertising, from the trailer of Excalibur (1981) onward, has led writers such as Horton and David Clem to note how far the music has been detached from the poem's subject of fate and human struggle.
What it says
The poem is a complaint addressed to Fortune, the fate that rules gods and mortals alike and, like the turning Wheel of Fortune, brings some people suffering and others wealth at random. Its mood is one of helplessness before fate, while still, as Horton put it, holding on to a passion for life.
The words
O FortunaO Fortune,
velut lunalike the moon
statu variabilis,changeable in state,
semper crescisyou always wax
aut decrescis;or wane;
vita detestabilishateful life
nunc obduratnow hardens
et tunc curatand then soothes
ludo mentis aciem,the mind's keenness at its sport;
egestatem,poverty,
potestatempower,
dissolvit ut glaciem.it melts them like ice.
Sors immanisFate, monstrous
et inanis,and empty,
rota tu volubilis,you turning wheel,
status malus,a wicked state,
vana salusa vain well-being,
semper dissolubilis,always ready to dissolve,
obumbrataovershadowed
et velataand veiled,
michi quoque niteris;you bear down on me too;
nunc per ludumnow through your game
dorsum nudummy bare back
fero tui sceleris.I bring to your villainy.
Sors salutisThe lot of health
et virtutisand of virtue
michi nunc contraria,is now against me;
est affectusdriven on
et defectusand worn down,
semper in angaria.always in forced service.
Hac in horaIn this hour,
sine morawithout delay,
corde pulsum tangite;touch the plucked string;
quod per sortemsince by chance
sternit fortem,she lays low the strong man,
mecum omnes plangite!all weep with me!
Original: Carmina Burana (early 13th century). Text from Wikisource; public domain.
The English is the Institute’s own translation, made from the original for this page.
Notes on the translation (8)
- line 1.9: 'ludo mentis aciem' is read as the object of 'obdurat' and 'curat': life hardens and then soothes the mind's sharpness, as in a game. The construction is loose and readings differ.
- line 1.12: the subject of 'dissolvit' is life (or Fortune); it melts poverty and power alike.
- line 2.4: 'status malus' may be read as an address to Fortune ('[you are] a wicked state') or as the condition she brings.
- line 2.12: 'dorsum nudum fero' = 'I offer my bare back' (to be flogged), i.e. I am at the mercy of your wickedness; also read 'I carry my bare back' (stripped by Fortune's game).
- lines 3.4-3.5: 'affectus et defectus' is disputed: the will and its failing, or 'driven on and worn down'; here taken as the speaker's state.
- line 3.6: 'angaria' is forced labour, compulsory service.
- line 3.9: 'corde pulsum tangite' plays on 'corda/chorda' (string) and 'cor' (heart): 'strike the plucked string' (play the lament) or 'touch the throbbing heart'.
- line 3.11: the subject of 'sternit' is Fortune (or fate): 'she lays low the strong'.
Listen
On YouTube, from the channel Carmina Burana - Topic. Pressing play loads YouTube’s player. Watch on YouTube
What it inspired
- Carmina Burana (Carl Orff) 1935–1936set to music as the opening and closing movement, "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi"
- Carmina Burana (Ray Manzarek) 1983album interpreting Orff's piece in a contemporary framework
- Excalibur (film trailer) 1981Orff's setting used in its entirety
People, places and events
Sources
- Wikipedia, "O Fortuna", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Fortuna
- Scott Horton, article in Harper's Magazine
- David Clem, "Medievalism goes Commercial: The Epic as Register in Contemporary Media", in The Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising, 2021
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). O Fortuna. In Songs in History. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/o-fortuna
- MLA
- “O Fortuna.” Songs in History, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/o-fortuna. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “O Fortuna.” Songs in History. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/o-fortuna.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘O Fortuna’, Songs in History. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/o-fortuna (Accessed: ).