Carl Orff was an extremely private person, insisting that his work is the only important thing. When the editor for a lexicon on modern opera asked Orff to provide some bibliographical information, Orff replied: “Carl Orff, born in Munich, still living...
[more]Carl Orff was an extremely private person, insisting that his work is the only important thing. When the editor for a lexicon on modern opera asked Orff to provide some bibliographical information, Orff replied: “Carl Orff, born in Munich, still living there.” His eight volume autobiography reveals very little about Orff the man but talks in detail on influences on his work, his musical ideas, and important events in his life. He was born in a family of talented musicians, and it soon became obvious that young Carl will have a musical career. He studied at Munich Academy of Music (Munich Akademie der Tonkunst) under respected but very old- fashioned and traditional Beer- Walburnn, and later with Kaminisky.
To see Orff as a 'one-hit wonder' is tempting but would be incorrect. His
Carmina Burana first performed in 1937 shook the world and brought Orff instant fame. It is without any doubt Orff's most performed and recorder work. But, there is much more to this man's style than this amazing piece. Orff's opus concentrated on the works for stage, but he never called his works 'opera'. His scenic works are reaction against the concept of opera as it was developed in 19
th century and as it was looked at during 20
th century and his lifetime. His interest in old Bavarian, Greek and Latin texts and stories is not a result of his interest in history, rather of his believe that these carry a timeless message and important vitality. His music style was highly individual, direct, primitive and elemental with inventive rhythmic procedures and rhythmic variety (for both orchestral and vocal parts) its primary characteristics. Thus it is no wonder that his orchestra relies heavily on percussion instruments (
Antigone requires 10- 15 percussionists) while other sections are less dominant and also reduced to rhythmic patterns.
After great success of
Carmina Burana Orff destroyed all his previous works and later revised and published only two of them:
Catulli Carmina (which later became a part of
Trionfi together with
Carmina Burana and
Trionfo di Afrodite) and
Entrata for orchestra after William Byrd. Recent years have seen an increased interest in Orff's opus and his other works can now be found on CDs more often.
Throughout his career Orff devoted a lot of attention to musical education. His
Schulwerk (frequently translated as 'Music for Children', developed with Gunlid Keetman) is still used extensively in musical education. A major element of this approach is improvisation combined with movement, singing and dance.
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