Musical Pet Peeve No. 2: Misusing O Fortuna

Carl Orff wrote a great piece. The Carmina Burana is an incredible achievement. I get that. I listen to it, and think it is one of the most powerful pieces of the century.

However, it is also the most EPIC FRIKKIN' THING EVER WRITTEN (arguably). One particular movement, O Fortuna, is so epic, that Hollywood got wise to it and has since used it in approximately every other action movie preview for the past 20 years. I also saw an (awful) Paso Doble on So You Think You Can Dance set to O Fortuna.

I have this to say to anyone thinking of using this piece for your film: DON'T DO IT. Your film is a flash in the pan piece of crap that will be forgotten in a year. Everything I have ever seen using this piece is unworthy. When I hear the any part of the Carmina Burana, I am expecting epic on the level of Lord of the Rings. Epic as in giant armies, great cinematography, excellent writing, a budget that could feed a third world country, and some of the world's most renowned actors.

This is not to say I am above making fun of a great work of art. On the youtube video I posted, somebody pointed out this brilliantly witty misheard lyric: "0:23 some men like cheese, hot temperate cheese" I am still giggling about that and will most likely think of that every time I hear it now.


It is just that these movies are trying to make it look as though they are as epic and intense as Orff's piece suggests, and they never deliver. PUT UP OR SHUT UP.