STARTING THE WEEK WITH ... CARMINA BURANA

"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 fate and Fortuna, the personification of luck in Roman mythology.

In 1935–36, "O Fortuna" was set to music by German composer Carl Orff as a part of "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi", the opening and closing movement of his cantata Carmina Burana.

O Fortuna - Latin	English	Translation
O Fortuna velut luna, statu variabilis, semper crescis aut decrescis; vita detestabilis nunc obdurat et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem, egestatem, potestatem dissolvit ut glaciem. Sors immanis et inanis, rota tu volubilis, status malus, vana salus semper dissolubilis, obumbrata et velata michi quoque niteris; nunc per ludum dorsum nudum fero tui sceleris. Sors salutis et virtutis michi nunc contraria, est affectus et defectus semper in angaria. Hac in hora sine mora corde pulsum tangite; quod per sortem sternit fortem, mecum omnes plangite!	O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice. Fate – monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy. Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved. So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the strong man, everyone weep with me!	Oh Fortuna, como la luna variable de estado, siempre creces o decreces; ¡Que vida tan detestable! ahora oprime después alivia como un juego, a la pobreza y al poder lo derritió como al hielo. Suerte monstruosa y vacía, tu rueda gira, perverso, la salud es vana siempre se difumina, sombrío y velado también a mí me mortificas; ahora en el juego llevo mi espalda desnuda por tu villanía. La Suerte en la salud y en la virtud está contra mí, me empuja y me lastra, siempre esclavizado. En esta hora, sin tardanza, toca las cuerdas vibrantes, porque la Suerte derriba al fuerte, llorad todos conmigo.