“O Fortuna” was first introduced to mainstream media in the 1981, John Boorman movie, Excalibur. Since then, the song has been used for dramatic effect (and later, parody) in numerous movies. Some of the movies that we found include:
Glory (1989)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
The Doors (1991)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
South Park (1999)
The General’s Daughter (1999)
Detroit Rock City (1999)
Jack@ss: The Movie (2002)
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)
G-Force (2009)
O Fortuna is based on 24 of the 254 poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana, a manuscript composed of 11th – 13th century poems and dramatic texts, believed to be written by clergy in Italy and Western Europe for traveling scholars, universities and theologians. The collection of texts was discovered in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria (Germany).
When Orff came across an edition of the text over 100 years later, he selected and organized 24 of the poems in a libretto, mostly in Latin verse, with a bit of Middle High German and Old Provencal. The poem’s topics range from drinking, desire and gluttony, to fortune, joy, and the fleeting nature of life.
From Benny Hill to the jingle for the original iPhone, check out these ten tunes that you've heard many times before yet are still in the dark about shared by Entertainment.time.com.