Jonathan Santore: Carl Orff Competition 2018 Rilke Fragment (Meditation on "In trutina")

As I began working on the appointed text for the 2018 Carl Orff Competition, an excerpt from Rilke’s “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes,” phrases and gestures from Orff’s “In trutina” kept running through my mind. At first, I thought this was only because of the Orff connection; however, I came to realize that Rilke’s poem is all about Eurydice’s drastic liberation from Orpheus’ view of her as an object of both physical desire and noble love – “lascivus amor et pudicitia.” Both this poem and its connection in my mind to Carmina Burana seem particularly timely at this “#MeToo” moment in world culture, so I decided to highlight the connection in my setting.