Carl Orff

Carl Orff (July 10, 1895 – March 29, 1982) was a German composer born in Munich. While being one of the most seminal composers of the 20th century, his greatest success and influence has been in the field of music education.

Musical work

Orff is most known for Carmina Burana (1937), a "scenic cantata". It is the first of a trilogy that also includes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. These compositions reflected his interest in medieval German poetry. Together the trilogy is called Trionfi, meaning triumph. It is described by the composer as the celebration of the triumph of the human spirit through sexual and holistic balance. The work was based on a 13th-century erotic verse found in Bavaria. While "modern" in some of his compositional techniques, Orff was able to capture the spirit of the medieval period in this trilogy, with infectious rhythms and easy tonalities. The medieval poems, written in an early form of German and Latin, are often racy, but without descending into smut.

Related Topics:
Carmina Burana - 1937 - Cantata - Trilogy - Catulli Carmina - Trionfo di Afrodite - Medieval German poetry - Erotic - Medieval period - Rhythm - Tonalities - German - Latin

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With the success of Carmina Burana, Orff orphaned all of his previous works except for Catulli Carmina and the En trata, which were rewritten until acceptable by Orff. As a historical aside, Carmina Burana is probably the most famous piece of music composed and premiered in Nazi Germany. Carmina Burana was in fact so popular that Orff received a commission in Vienna to compose music for Midsummer Night's Dream, which was supposed to replace the banned music by Mendelssohn. Orff began working on the new incidental music, but he did not complete it until 1964.

Related Topics:
Nazi Germany - Vienna - Midsummer Night's Dream - Mendelssohn - 1964

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Orff was reluctant to call any of his works simply operas. For example, he called Der Mond ("The Moon") (1939) a "Märchenoper" or Fairytale Opera. He placed Die Kluge ("The Wise Woman") (1943) into the same category. In both compositions there is that same medieval or timeless sound, without actually copying the musical idioms of the period. Their melodies, rhythms and, with them, text appear in a union of words and music.

Related Topics:
Opera - Der Mond - 1939 - Die Kluge - 1943

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About his Antigone (1949), Orff said specifically that it was not an opera, rather a Vertonung, a "musical setting" of the ancient tragedy. The text is an excellent German translation, by Friedrich Hölderlin, of the Sophocles play of the same name. The orchestration relies heavily on the percussion section, and is otherwise fairly simple. It has been labelled by some as minimalistic, which is most adequate in terms of the melodic line. The story of Antigone has a haunting similarity to the history of Sophie Scholl, heroine of the White Rose, and Orff may have been memorializing her in his opera.

Related Topics:
Antigone - 1949 - Tragedy - Friedrich Hölderlin - Sophocles - Orchestration - Percussion - Minimalistic - Sophie Scholl - White Rose

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Orff's last work, De Temporum Fine Comoedia ("A Play of the End of Time"), had its premiere at the Salzburg music festival on August 20, 1973, performed by Herbert von Karajan and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. In this highly personal work, Orff presented a mystery play, in which he summarized his view on the end of time, sung in Greek, German, and Latin.

Related Topics:
De Temporum Fine Comoedia - Salzburg music festival - August 20 - 1973 - Herbert von Karajan - Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus - Mystery play

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