Carl Orff
Richard Chao Richard Chao Professor Clark Music 002
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July 17, 2008
Carl Orff Few individuals have had the same amount of impact on modern music than German composer and teacher Carl Orff. Born in the Bav arian capital of Munich on July 10, 1895, he died at the age of 86 on March 29, 1982 (Grove). Born to Heinrich and Paula Orff, a soldier and a skilled pianist, respectively, respectively, he was a descendant descend ant of a long line of military officers in service to the German Kaiser. As a young child he studied instruments like the piano and cello. One particularly important event in his childhood was visiting a marionette theater, which inspired young Orff. He began staging “puppet plays accompanied by dramatic musical effects, including thunder produced on the kitchen stove” (Gifford). His future works, such as the illustrious “O Fortuna”, which contain remnants of the “dramatic musical effects” he performed as a child. One of the great versatile individuals in history, history, he didn’t only create music to be b e enjoyed. He developed ways to teach future generations ge nerations to make the same music that we savor so much today. today. Carl Orff’s pioneering in musical education and his magnu m opus “Carmina “Carmina Burana” has solidified Orff as a musical icon and legend. Although young Orff had already written an opera and published several pieces of music, he had very little formal training in the arts aside from piano lessons. This changed when he joined the Munich Academy of Music in 1912 (Answers.com). Although he didn’t favor the methods of teaching in the Academy, he remained enrolled and graduated in 1914. He wrote and published many pieces during this time, mainly influenced b y composers such as Debussy and Richard Strauss. He was then appointed as the Kapellmeister at the Munich Kammerspiele, a successful German theater. “Orff stayed at the Kammerspiele from 1915 to 1917, bu t was drafted into the German Army”. He was unable to escape his lineage and served for about one year. Chao
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Luckily, Luckily, he was drafted with one year left in World World War War I; although he only served for a relatively short period, the “demands of war tested him greatly”. The following year, upon his return to civilian life and the end of the war, Orff became assistant Kapellmeister at the Nationaltheater in Mannheim, as well as holding the same position at the Landestheater (State Theater) in nearby Darmstadt. In 1919, he returned to Munich and began teaching music; he also studied under Heinrich Kaminski, and it was through this avenue that Orff became interested in Rena issance-era music. (Musician Guide). Orff’s tutelage under Kaminski proved to be a ver y important factor in Orff’s creating of his Burana”, but that was still more than a decade away. masterpiece, “Carmina “Carmina Burana”, Carl Orff isn’t only famous for his musical work. He was also a renowned teacher who devised his own wa y of teaching children music. Together, Together, Orff and gymnast Dorothea Guenther founded the Guenther School for gymnastics, music, and dance. This was his vehicle for showcasing his technique that he had created, known as the Schulwerk, a new way of teaching music and movement (The motivation for developing this curriculum was probably a result of the disdain he felt when he attended the Munich Academy of Music). It was based on the idea philosophy that Nearly all human beings are "musical" by b y nature. Orff wrote the treatise Schulwerk, which explained these theories and gave teachers a curriculum of songs and activities employing German folk songs and poetry. He even developed his own series of percussion instruments that came to be known as “Orff Instruments” which allowed children to produce music without formal training (All Media Guide). The method of teaching proved to be successful, as teachers in many countries decided to adopt it, implementing their own folk songs to localize it. The presence of the Schulwerk h as Chao
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even been felt in the United States, as one estimate in the 1990’ 1990 ’s put the number of instructors trained in the curricular at five thousand. While he was pursuing academic endeavors, he was also composing music. He was immersed in the drama of early Greece and an d Rome. He was especially enamored with the Baroque period, especially the great composer Monteverdi. Orff adapted three works by Monteverdi, including the opera L'Orfeo, which he reworked many times, while keeping the original instrumentation (Gifford). His altered version, named Orpheus, was tailor-made for theatrical performance, and his version was first staged in 192 5 in Mannheim, Germany; He even utilized some of the instruments used in the original debu t in 1607. His performance was certainly radical for his time as L’Orfeo was incredibly unknown at the time, thus bringing his performance “incomprehension” and “ridicule”. Orff, however, did not let this discourage him as his continued “fascination with early music and his love o f spectacle and theatre…later inspired Carmina Burana ('Songs of Beuron'). (Gifford) Around 1930, Orff became interested in romantic (subject matter, not time period) poetry in written in Latin. He was fascinated with the text of the Roman lyric poet Catullus, the Catulli Carmina (Songs of Callus). He wrote two sets of unaccompan ied choral incorporating the poems. (Biographies). This was the beginning of a six year span of time in which Orff was motivated to reference older works in order to create new pieces. His career and legacy leg acy was forever changed when he encountered the text that would cement him as a star.Carmina star.Carmina Burana was originally a collection of about two hund red medieval poems and songs discovered in the library of the Benedictine monastery in Beuron, Germany German y. Carmina Burana originated from a collection of about two hundred medieval songs and poems discovered in 1803 in the library of the Benedictine monastery of Beuron, near
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Munich. Written Written by monks and minstrels, the collection appealed to Orff because of the variety of its humorous, sad, and suggestive verses. (Gifford) 46 poems from the collection were translated into English in John Addington Symond’sWine, Symond’s Wine, Women, and Song . Orff and a young law student named na med Michel Hofmann carefully chose 24 of the poems to be made into a libretto. (Carmina Burana) What resulted was a “scenic cantata” that was a great success. It premiered in Frankfurt on June 8, 1937 and it was performed by the Frankfurt Opera and instantly propelled Orff to fame. He even wrote a letter to his publishing company, Schott Music, “Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With With Carmina Burana my collected works begin” (Orff, vol. IV, IV, 66). Carmina Burana was scored for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, a tuba, 2 pianos, a celesta, and a large percussion section and strings. Orff had developed a concept called the “Theatrum Mundi”, and Carmina Burana was based off of this. Theatrum Mundi was essentially the philosophy Orff utilized in his teaching, where music, movement, and speech were all intertwined into one (Carmina Burana). In modern performances, Carmina Burana is usually performed as a cantata, whereas the original was more of a theatrical piece. Eventually, Carmina Burana would no longer just refer to the poems. It came to be an “umbrella term” of sorts, for the Trionfi (Triumphs) of Orff. These were, in order, Carmina Burana, Catulli Carmina, and Trionfo di Afrodite. However, not all the reviews were positive, many criticized the music for not having polyphony, which was common and somewhat of a given when a new piece was produced. Carmina Burana also didn’t have much in terms of a development. This was a shock to the public because music of the time was somewhat hectic, with multiple keys present. Also, the Nazi regime was concerned about the erotic overtones present in the libretto, but
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eventually came to embrace the music, which became the most famous piece composed in Nazi Germany (Taruskin 764). The most well known movement from Carmina Burana is the first one, “O Fortuna”. Burana. Fortuna is the Goddess of Fortune This legendary movement opens and closes Carmina Burana. in Roman Mythology and Orff is stating the cruelty and power of fate and how it affects him. A staple in modern popular culture, “O Fortuna” is co nstantly repeated in concert halls and movie trailers alike. It is a true testament to the genius that Orff possessed. Undoubtedly, Carl Orff has had an enormous impact on modern society and culture. His techniques and works revolutionized music and continue to assist and inspire future musicians to come. Although he passed away in 1982, his legac y will continue to live on forever.
Works Cited "Carl Orff." Biographies. Answers Corporation, 2006. Answers.com 2006. Answers.com 22 Jul. 2008. "Carl Orff." Classical Artist Biographies. All Media Guide, 20 08. Answers.com 08. Answers.com 21 Jul. 2008. "Carl Orff," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008 . "Carl Orff." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia. 20 Jul 2008, 02:10 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Orff> _Orff>
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Encyclopedia. 15 Jul 2008, 07:41 UTC. "Carmina Burana (Orff)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Burana_(Orff)> ina_Burana_(Orff)> Gifford, Katya. "Carl Orff - Biography". Humanities Web. 17 July 2008 . Orff, Carl. Orff und sein Werk: Werk: Dokumentation. Tutzing: Schneider, 1975-1983. "Orff, Carl". The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 1988. Taruskin, Richard: The Oxford History of Western Music. Vol. 4 "The Early Twentieth Century." Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, 754-765
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