Apotheosis – O Fortuna

O Fortuna - the shining example of people learning the hard way that Carmina Burana, unlike most works in the classical music genre, is NOT public domain. It was only made in 1937, and his estate continues to hold the copyrights to his works. They do not take kindly to people just randomly taking that iconic melody and throwing it into whatever dance tracks they please.

Not only did Apotheosis learn this the hard way, but also Apoptygma Berzerk (Love Never Dies Part 1), KMFDM (Liebeslied), and countless others did too.

To use any part of the opera in a derivative work, requires permission and due credit as any other more recent composition would require. Enigma's use in "Screen Behind The Mirror" of various pieces of the opera (O Fortuna shows up in Gravity Of Love) required such, and it was granted. Enigma would want to be that careful too, in that a few years prior, Michael Cretu learned the hard way that the Taiwanese folk tune that's the basis for "Return To Innocence" wasn't public domain (he thought it was, and got in legal trouble).

Yet no real valable reason why O'Fortuna was banned for using the Carmina Burana song ?!

Yet This song was allowed without any copyright strike similar to Chosen Few : O'Chosen track and the one from Enigma: The Screen Behind the Mirror using the same sample .

Com'n guys there's a real explication behind that story , unless copyright sector is only pointing the poorest which for me it's not fair at all .

At the end of 1991, everybody in the low countries was into rave. T99 paved the way with "Anastasia", dozens of acts copied their sounds, L.A. Style scored a No. 1 with "James Brown Is Dead" and after several replies to the latter, many were curious about what was to come next.
A sign of things to come was given by T99 themselves. More flirts with classical music. According to Patrick De Meyer, "Anastasia" was just the result of loading one note of an opera tape into a sampler and playing some random notes with it. At a certain moment, the hook sticks, and you know you have to record it. For "Nocturne", T99 used the first five notes of Richard Strauss "Also Sprach Zarathustra". It seemed that the new trend was rave based on the classical masterpieces. Most of these were already more than 100 years old, so the idea was that using them in contemporary music in a contemporary way was not going to be the biggest of problems.

With what we know now... big mistake...

I recall the December issue of Dutch magazine Disco Dance, speaking about a dance version of "Carmina Burana". At that time, I did not even know who Carmina Burana was... was she an opera singer? In the last weekend of the year, I heard a tune, opening with thunderstorm and horse sounds, followed by a Sydney Youngblood beat, Enigma-style vocals and a bit of rapping. I did not know who it was. Sounded a bit like Raze "Break For Love" in D instead of C. But the tune refused to stick. One ear in, other ear out.
In those days, I wasn't going out clubbing anymore. House music literally had become house music for me: to be enjoyed at home. I spent New Year alone with my parents at home, without any house music, while my cousins and other acquaintances of the same age were going out. Of course, it did not take a long time before I heard the stories about what I missed.
"You had to be there to believe it! We were standing there, all packed, and there was this countdown clock. When it said 23:55:00, the music slowly faded out and everybody was getting their drinks, so did we. Some others were rushing out for the fireworks. But we remained inside. At 23:59:50, we started the countdown. Ten to one. And at 0:00:00, we heard this unbelievably heavy classical tune. An opera piece, I guess. I don't know what it was but it was amazing! Then we heard this siren, the deejay screamed "Make some noise!" and then they played that awesome remix of T99!"
Some days later, I heard a similar story as above, but this time, the situation became a bit more clear.
"So I went to my record shop and tried to describe what I heard. I said that it was a rave record with opera vocals in it. Sounded a bit like Anastasia. I guess these guys stole it. The seller already knew enough. 'All those youngsters here are asking for that record! It's crazy. I guess it's No. 1 at the end of the month'."
And he showed me that orange sleeve, with a 2-track CD single in it. He played track 1 for me. He didn't care much about track 2. I lifted my shoulders. "I'll wait for the next Turn Up The Bass", I said. "It will surely be on it."
He was lucky. Someone else told me a similar story, but the record shop had to tell him that the record sold out. "We expect more delivery next Friday."
That guy bought Booming Support "De rode schoentjes" instead. Another popular surrogate was RTZ "Dance Your Ass Off", a techno-pasodoble. I preferred Inner City "Let It Reign" myself. But of course... that was a Virgin song, and Virgin material does not land on Turn Up The Bass.
On January 17, there was the weekly top 40 radio show and the Alarmschijf ("most promising record bubbling under the charts") was announced. It was "that other version". The one with the Sydney Youngblood beats. Fortuna Featuring Satenig - O Fortuna. The long version was featured on this nice-price comp full of current long versions (exactly what I needed as a CD mixing person): Various - Chart Break-Outs Volume III.
One week later, Turn Up The Bass arrived and yes, the Apotheosis version opened volume 18, and the Fortuna version was track 5 on volume 17. I always preferred that version by far. It was more pleasant to listen to. That version ultimately became a No. 1 hit in our other chart, the National Top 100.

And then... all of a sudden... it was over.

I recall our local newspaper. It was front page news. "Judge prohibits further sale of O Fortunas!". In the details, it was outlined that both tracks were based on Carl Orff's song cycle 'Carmina Burana' and the Apotheosis and Fortuna versions of O Fortuna were created without the consent of Carl Orff's heirs. The fact that Carl Orff was listed as the sole composer, and Fortuna claiming that they did their work with the best intention and paying respect to the original was no excuse. Further sale was forbidden and both versions were no longer allowed to be aired. That same day, the Dutch Top 40 was published with a clear "FORBIDDEN" mark on both O Fortunas.
There were interviews on the radio and in newspapers. "Of course this had to happen. It was inevitable. Every radio station and club was starting the year with that tune. Everybody was rushing to the stores to get a copy. If only they had stolen one note, like T99. But they could not get away with stealing an entire verse. Sure, we use samples too. Animal sounds, concert audience, malfunctioning equipment, street noise."
Most people in the dance music business hated the Apotheosis version. DJ Murderhouse (of Sequencial fame): "They ruined it. But most of all: it felt like a slap in my face! I used to start my gigs with the original classical O Fortuna!"
The three comps I mentioned had to be reconfigured, with replacement tracks. I lost my Chart Break Outs copy after I moved to another city. My TUTB copies were from before the ban.

I remember feeling sorry for Fortuna. They did not steal anything. They sang the vocals themselves. They made a decent version of it. Thousands of artists make covers. Just pass all revenues to the heirs of Carl Orff and you're done. Maybe those who buy the cover will appreciate the original later. This way, I discovered the true original versions of Wink "Higher State Of Consciousness", Delerium "Silence" and Samuel Barber "Adagio For Strings".

Some say that Apotheosis killed the rave scene with this. I have my doubts about that. After the ban, rave records were still made. T-Birds doing rave versions of "Dance Little Bird" and the Radetzky March. Dikke vette pannenkoeken. Rubberen kaplaarzen. Niet mooi maar wel hard. Even the popular Dutch football chant "Aanvallen!" was turned into a rave record. And Apotheosis themselves? They made a similar sounding follow-up "Obumbratta". I recall the adverts. "DEZE MAG WEL!!!" (this one is allowed).

Apotheosis did not kill the rave scene. Rave became hardcore. Rotterdam Gabber. Techno Trance. Thunderdome. Rave The City.
But for me, it was enough. I went on to discover other styles of house.
For me, Apotheosis overkilled the rave scene.

Of all the big commercial '91 Belgian Techno hits, O Fortuna doesn't stand up to modern criticism.

While it can be respected for what it did, it was executed in a very cheesy fashion. While Anasthasia was pure evil, without any hint of cheese (Three Blind Mice intro notwithstanding), O Fortuna crept over into cheese by including the full Carmina Burana vocal over the beats.

It just sounds cringey, any semblance of aggression is lost when that full vocal arrives.

There was a Hot Tracks re-edit (available on Roadkill! 1.02) which did liven things up, but even that needs some additional re-editing to remove the cheese.

So yeah, I do respect O Fortuna for what it was at the time. But unlike Anasthasia, it's not aged well.

What makes me laugh is that today this Record isn't "The Most Sought" ever anymore so it became a joke as it was a mokery at start . You can clearly see the people that sell that record goes for less than 1Euro or Dollar .

Banning a record or cd just because Carl Orff is silly we're very far from copyright issues today look how One Direction is ripping off other songs even stealing some melodies from other well known bands and those aren't banned at all?!? in what era are we living

Anyway i guess the whole story of Apotheosis : O'Fortuna was only a marketing attempt on how to make easy money without effort .

Same can be said with another tune strange enough it wasn't banned ;

Jack E Makossa : The Opera House from 1987 genre House . Using the intro based on "La Donna E Mobile" from the opera "Rigoletto" by Giuseppe Verdi ( 1851 ) .

il a ete le vinyle trance le plus connu et le plus recherché a l'epoque et sa cote a monté a 10000 francs(monnaie de l'epoque)!donc respect

I have had this vinyl since 92 on Radikal records & haven't played it since 94, O fortuna got played out way to early & i'm not just talking about this track but the original by Carl Orf, for a year or 2 there it seemed like every fucking tv commercial was using it, just like "ride of the valkyries" by wagner and now utterly ruined and robbed of any mystique whatsoever by nauseating tv marketing jingles. in terms of this techno version, well it could have been done better and so therefor it should be done better!!! but hey I have long since ceased to really give 2 shits!!!

Its all about the B Side.. An Other Thing (Metropoll Sky UnderMix). Superb Track.

At the time, this was the typical apocalyptic sound, when hardcore began. T99's Anastasia and Holy Noise's James Brown is Dead, The Curse's All Systems (Are Go).It might not sound that big nowadays, back then it was big.

Seriously? This track got hyped? It sounds terrible. I do like cheesy ravey "tekkno" tracks every know and then but who thought that sampling off a classical piece would be a good idea? It simply doesn't fit at all. Apparently, a bunch of noisy electronic sounds and a sample from a well known classical piece is considered "Art" by one of the commenters here. I respect anyone who like this. I simply do not understand this track's significance. The B side "An Other Thing" doesn't help much either. It's similarly as bad as "O Fortuna" "O Fortuna" is simply a dreadful recording. People probably like this because of it's notoriousness.