Biography and Works of Carl Orff
German Composer and Music Teacher Wrote Carmina Burana
Brief biography of German composer Carl Orff, his life, career, list of works. Famous for scenic cantata Carmina Burana.
Carl Orff is remembered for his popular cantata Carmina Burana. Among learners of music he is also known for his influential teaching method.
Orff's Background
German composer and teacher Carl Orff was born in Munich on July 10, 1895. Although his father was a soldier, his family was musical. As a boy he studied piano, organ and cello. His first works were all vocal and published when he was 16 years old.
He enrolled at the local Munich Academy of Music and graduated in 1914, aged 19. Three years later, however, he was called by the German army to fight in the First World War.
He married Alice Solscher in 1920, the first of his four wives. With Dorothee Günther in 1924, he co-founded the Günther Schule of Gymnastic Dancing, a school for gymnastics, music and dance, which was a turning point in his life. Out this came his later activity in providing materials for young children to make music, using their voices and simple percussion instruments. Orff became interested in musical education, and passionate with primitive and evocative rhythms, and with renaissance music.
Career, Influence, and Compositions
He was appointed conductor of the Bach Society of Munich, leading to staging of Bach and Schütz, much influential to the creation of his masterpiece Carmina Burana.
All his major works, including the phenomenally successful cantata Carmina Burana (1937) and the opera Antigone (1949), were designed as pageants for the stage: they include several versions of Greek tragedies and Bavarian comedies. Carmina Burana was first performed in Frankfurt. It brought him overnight fame.
Carl Orff was known for his simple melodies and harmonies. His music was mostly written for the stage and with strong mass appeal. Although his contemporary composers either left Germany or died during the Nazi Germany period in the 1930s to 1945, Orff remained in Munich through the years, dying at the age of 87. His music was generally approved by the authorities because it was conservative and uplifting to people’s spirits.
He is most significant in the role of his music in education and physical recreation. He always believed that music should be healthy and should please.
Works by Carl Orff
- Prelude for orchestra
- Concertino for wind
- Catulli Carmina, scenic cantata on Latin texts
- Carmina Burana, scenic cantata on Latin texts
- Olympischer Reigen, for chorus and orchestra
- Der Mond, opera
- Die Kluge, opera
- Die Bernauerin, opera
- Astutuli, opera
- Antigone, opera
- Trionfo di Afrodite, opera
- Oedipus, der Tyrann, opera
- Ludus de nato Infante mirificus, opera
- Ein Sommernachtsraum, opera
- De Temporum fine comoedia, dramataic cantata
Sources
Dictionary of Composers and their Music by Eric Gilder, Sphere Reference (1987)
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie (2000)
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (1972)
