Catullus: Tuffy the
Tugboat meets the Brave Little Toaster
Catullus in Music
There are three ways to present
Catullus in music: 1) in meter and sung, as Ray Koehler does,
2) interpretively in song, as Carl Orff does, and 3) by extension
in the Beatles. The last way is in homage to my younger son Nate,
the founder of the Beatles Club at our school.
Listening to various song versions
- even though none of this year's students wrote their own, several
years ago I had a student who did - gives students an appreciation
of what Catullus would sound like today. Ray Koehler's presentation
of Catullus is the best for this, since he uses the proper meter
yet also sings the songs with a more modern accompaniment. Carl
Orff can be repetitious, yet he does show the flavor of the poetry
and its strength. The Beatles offer completely modern interpretations;
obviously they did not intend to write songs based on Catullus
(none of them got to that level of Latin, even though they are
British), but nevertheless they deal with the same themes and
with much the same emotion. See the list of songs and their related
Catullus referents.
The following is a list of songs
and their corresponding poem of Catullus. I find it best to use
these after the AP, since otherwise students go around humming
the wrong meter (Orff). However, if Ray's music grabs them, they
will have the meter down very well.
Catulli
Carmina,
Carl Orff.
The Modern
Student's Guide to Catullus - In song and dance. Produced by Ray Koehler,
Brunswick School, Greenwich, CT
The Beattles, various albums
* Requires .mid compatable
player.
