Under the spell of magic in Kaltenberg
Created: 08/08/2022, 09:40
By: Dieter Roettig
How Carl Orff's swan sizzles in the pan and sings at the same time was one of the highlights of the "Carmina Burana Cavallo" performance in the arena of Kaltenberg Castle.
© Roettig
Kaltenberg – As an event location with a very special charm, the arena of Schloss Kaltenberg is also in demand outside of the knight games.
Like the staging of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" together with spectacular horse choreographies.
The "Black Knight" as a personalized villain has resigned for the finale of this year's knight games.
Some security staff took over his job at the Orff Open Air.
They heartlessly denied soaked visitors access to the covered Grandstand A with many empty rows of seats as a massive downpour filled the region with thunder and lightning.
Organizer Florian Zwipf-Zaharia tried in vain to get the event dry on stage before the threatening storm and, to the chagrin of the food and drink stands, decided not to take the break after the musical opening of the group Quadro Nuevo.
The acoustic quartet with its unmistakably jazzy musical style of tango, valse musette and flamenco was accompanied by the Salzburg Philharmonic under the direction of chief conductor Elisabeth Fuchs, who was able to effortlessly follow the spontaneous improvisations of the group.
The nearly six thousand spectators in the arena rewarded the musical fireworks with prolonged applause.
Almost synchronously with the first drumbeat of "Carmina Burana" the first thunder rumbled over the arena and the sellers of the rain capes called "Kaltenberger full-body condoms" did the business of their lives.
Those who didn't get any more and sat neither in the grandstand nor under the covered blocks remained soaked on the wooden benches, because one simply couldn't escape the spell of the show.
Despite the pouring rain, the general went into battle for the favor of the audience, which was not stingy with applause.
© Roettig
Unfazed by the wide-open sluice gates, the international elite riders with 30 horses pulled through their fascinating choreographies with quadrilles, pirouettes and capers in time to the music.
It came in high quality from the Salzburg Philharmonic, the Mendelssohn Vocal Ensemble, the Tölz Boys' Choir and soloists such as Gloria Rehm (soprano), Johannes Kammler (baritone) and Andreas Fischer (tenor).
Horse choreographies Kathrin Stolz had managed the feat of coordinating the elements of the high school, free dressage and diverse formations with Orff's compositions.
Among the actors were five horses from the Portuguese Riding School in Lisbon and six fire riders called Garrocha.
Pyro and light effects and, of course, artistry were also part of the production, in which the world's most frequently performed classical work, Carmina Burana, experienced a synthesis with noble horses.
Carmina Burana is a medieval song collection that was rediscovered in 1803 in the Benediktbeuern monastery.
In 1936, long before he moved to Dießen, the Munich composer Carl Orff set his Carmina Burana to music.
The piece was neither opera, dance nor ballet, partly had Latin texts and was nevertheless a crowd puller.
Orff's plan to set off a mental cinema in the audience with his melodies had worked.
85 years after the premiere at the Frankfurt Opera, the magic is unbroken.
Even in the rain like now in Kaltenberg.
