O Fortune | O Fortune,/ just like the moon

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Translation © by Grant Hicks

O Fortuna

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG ITA SPA

Chosen for Diff

  FORTUNA IMPERATRIX MUNDI 

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
mihi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.

Sors salutis
et virtutis
mihi 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!

Text Authorship:

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "O Fortuna", 1935-6 [ chorus ], from Carmina Burana, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "O Fortuna", 1935-6 [ chorus ], from Carmina Burana, no. 25 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "O Fortune", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "O Fortuna (Coro)", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , "Oh, Fortuna", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2011-04-24
Line count: 37
Word count: 86

O Fortune

Language: English after the Latin

Chosen for Diff

  FORTUNE,  EMPRESS OF THE WORLD

O Fortune,
just like the moon 
you are changeable,
always waxing
or waning;
hateful life
now dulls 
and then heals
the mind's sharpness for its sport;
poverty
and power
it melts like ice.

Fate, monstrous 
and futile,
you are a turning wheel,
an evil state,
a vain refuge 
always bound to melt away,
shadowed
and veiled,
you also press upon me;
now my back
is laid bare
through the play of your wickedness.

A fate of safety 
and virtue 
is denied to me, 
whether excited 
or exhausted 
one is always in bondage.
At this hour
without delay
pluck the throbbing string;
because by fate
the strong are laid low,
all of you, lament with me!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-09-11
Line count: 37
Word count: 121