Carmina Burana is a divisive work and always has been. Its premiere at the Oper Frankfurt in 1937 took place within the complex cultural climate of 1930s Germany, and the work’s bold musical language and salaciousness quickly made it a subject of debate.  Initial responses from the Nazi press were cautious. The party newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter, criticised the work’s syncopated bounce, drawing

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