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As most of us will know, Carl Orff composed the most famous choral work of the C20th, Carmina Burana.
Orff was born in Munich, Germany in 1895 and studied at the Music Academy there until 1914. After military service during World War I, he held numerous positions at opera houses in Mannheim and Darmstadt, before returning to Munich to complete further studies.
From 1925 until his death in 1982, Orff worked at the Guenther School for gymnastics, music and dance in his native city. There he developed methods of teaching music to children, which are still practiced throughout the world today.
Orff had an ambigious relationship with the Nazi Party. On the one hand, he submitted music to replace Mendelssohn's banned A Midsummer Night's Dream, on the other he was a friend of Kurt Huber, one of the founders of the White Rose resistance movement.
It seems that the success and fame of Carmina Burana (1937), a cantata that combines medieval Latin and Old German lyrics with the rhythms and tonalities of the medieval period, has eclipsed all of his other works (which include other cantatas and stage works). Indeed, the famous opening O Fortuna has been used in many movies and television commercials.
I have not heard any of his other works, and am interested in people's impressions of not only his famous hit, but of any other works they may have heard.
Orff was born in Munich, Germany in 1895 and studied at the Music Academy there until 1914. After military service during World War I, he held numerous positions at opera houses in Mannheim and Darmstadt, before returning to Munich to complete further studies.
From 1925 until his death in 1982, Orff worked at the Guenther School for gymnastics, music and dance in his native city. There he developed methods of teaching music to children, which are still practiced throughout the world today.
Orff had an ambigious relationship with the Nazi Party. On the one hand, he submitted music to replace Mendelssohn's banned A Midsummer Night's Dream, on the other he was a friend of Kurt Huber, one of the founders of the White Rose resistance movement.
It seems that the success and fame of Carmina Burana (1937), a cantata that combines medieval Latin and Old German lyrics with the rhythms and tonalities of the medieval period, has eclipsed all of his other works (which include other cantatas and stage works). Indeed, the famous opening O Fortuna has been used in many movies and television commercials.
I have not heard any of his other works, and am interested in people's impressions of not only his famous hit, but of any other works they may have heard.
