Carl Orff: Life, Carmina Burana, and the Orff Schulwerk

Early Life and Musical Education

Carl Orff, a German composer, was born in Munich, Germany on July 10, 1895. Munich was the place where Orff grew up and where his life was shaped. The memories of his childhood later served as inspirations for his works and compositions.

Carl Orff began developing his musical talent at the age of five, receiving his first piano, organ, and cello lessons in 1900. By the age of sixteen, he had already composed nearly fifty songs using texts by classical authors such as Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Hölderlin. When he was nineteen, Orff served briefly in the First World War.

Orff's genius in music was nourished and developed into a master's art at the Academy for the Musical Arts, a music school in Munich. After finishing school, he worked with the old masters of music. Among the musical authorities who fascinated him, Orff admired Monteverdi the most. Because of this admiration, he wrote his own arrangements of several of Monteverdi's works, including L'Orfeo, Lamento d'Arianna, and Ballo delle Ingrate.

Together with Dorothee Günther, Orff co-founded the Günther School in 1924. The school devoted itself to movement and music, incorporating dance, rhythm, and gymnastics into its curriculum.

At the Günther School, with the help of his student Gunild Keetman, Orff developed the Orff Schulwerk ("school work") — a teaching framework that integrates movement and music. It was from the Schulwerk that Orff later designed musical activities for children when the Bavarian Broadcasting Company requested him to create musical radio programs. He provided children with simple-to-play instruments through which they could express themselves rhythmically and develop their motor skills. It was Orff's deep belief in children's innate musical talent that led him to design improvised instruments and music techniques suited to young learners.

Carl Orff became famous for Carmina Burana ("Songs of Beuren," 1937), a scenic cantata composed from a collection of medieval German and Latin poems that he discovered in the Benediktbeuern Monastery. Regarding this manuscript, Carl Orff wrote:

"The goddess Fortuna must have been smiling on me when, as if by chance, she put a copy of a catalogue in my hands. It was published by a seller of old books in Würzburg, and one title in the list attracted me with an almost magical force: Carmina Burana."

Major Compositions and Works

Carmina Burana, which premiered in 1937 in Frankfurt am Main, was a great success and was considered the finest representation of contemporary music theater of its time. Upon its success, Orff famously declared:

"Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin."

Carmina Burana is part of a trilogy. The other two works are Catulli Carmina ("Songs of Catullus," 1943), a scenic cantata based on the works of Catullus, and Trionfo di Afrodite ("Triumph of Aphrodite," 1953). In this trilogy, Orff displayed his attachment to medieval German poetry. Although the musical techniques he employed were in some respects modern, the spirit of the medieval period was nonetheless captured. As one description of Orff's style notes, there is a medieval or timeless sound without actually copying the musical idioms of the period — the melodies, rhythms, and, with them, the text are so memorable that they can be recalled years after a single hearing, which is proof of a rare and flawless union of words and music.

Inspired by fairy tales, Orff derived several succeeding compositions — such as Little World Theater and The Clever One: The Story of the King and the Clever Woman — from fairy-tale materials. The Moon was drawn from the Brothers Grimm tale of the same name. According to Orff, language has always been an essential component in his works. Because his compositions were rooted in fairy tales, he did not wish to call them simply operas; instead, he preferred the term "Fairy-tale Opera." The following is a list of selected works by Carl Orff:

Trionfi — Trittico Teatrale (Triumphs — theatrical triptych)
Der Mond ("The Moon," 1939)
Astutuli — a Bavarian comedy (1953)
Comoedia de Christi Resurrectione — an Easter Play (1957)
Ludus de Nato Infante Mirificus — a Christmas Play
Die Bernauerin (1947)
Antigonae (1949) — described by Orff as a Vertonung ("musical setting") influenced by Greek tragedy
Oedipus der Tyrann (1959)
Ludus de Nato Infante Mirificus (1960)
Ein Sommernachtstraum (A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1964)
Prometheus (1966)
De Temporum Fine Comoedia (1973)

Several of Carl Orff's works were influenced by Greek tragedies. As with Carmina Burana, his Antigonae was also met with critical acclaim, and his creativity continued with the composition of Oedipus der Tyrann.

The last masterpiece of Carl Orff was De Temporum Fine Comoedia ("The Comedy About the End of Time," 1973), a play that reflects Orff's vision of the end of time. It premiered at the Salzburg Music Festival and was performed by Herbert von Karajan and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Carl Orff died on March 21, 1982, at the age of 86. His remains were laid to rest in the Schmerzhafte Chapel, a monastery church in Andechs.

Carmina Burana, or "Songs of Benediktbeuern," is a cantata derived from a manuscript Carl Orff discovered in the Monastery of Benediktbeuern. The symbol of Carmina Burana is a wheel representing richness and fortune — a symbol of both good luck and bad luck, as the wheel turns. The work includes songs of drinking, food, love, and happiness, all drawn from the original medieval manuscript. It was first performed by the Frankfurt Opera at the Städtische Bühnen, Frankfurt, on June 8, 1937.

Orff intended Carmina Burana for a full theatrical performance in which movement, words, and music served as essential components. This style drew inspiration from the cultural traditions of classical Greek tragedy and Italian Baroque musical theatre.

Carmina Burana: Origins and Significance

The following is the text of "O Fortuna," the most well-known opening section of Carmina Burana:

Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis, semper crescis aut decrescis; vita detestabilis nunc obdurat et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem, egestatem, potestatem dissolvit ut glaciem.

Sors immanis et inanis, rota tu volubilis, status malus, vana salus semper dissolubilis, obumbrata et velata michi quoque niteris; nunc per ludum dorsum nudum fero tui sceleris.

Sors salutis et virtutis michi nunc contraria, est affectus et defectus semper in angaria.

Hac in hora sine mora corde pulsum tangite; quod per sortem sternit fortem, mecum omnes plangite!

Fortune, like the moon, you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice.

Fate — monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game bring my bare back to your villainy.

Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved.

So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the strong man, everyone weep with me!

Fortuna was a goddess of the Romans and Greeks, represented by attributes such as a rudder, a ball, and association with Plutus. With a rudder, Fortuna represents a divine guide of the world. With a ball, she illustrates good and bad luck as components of fortune. Associated with Plutus, she represents the gifts of fortune. "O Fortuna" became celebrated for its simplicity of harmony — a classical type of music that is serious and deeply emotive for its listeners.