Carl Orff was a German composer born in 1895 in Munich, Germany. He was a born into a military family and even served in the military during World War 1. Also, his family was very musical with both parents being trained pianist and his father also played multiple string instruments. His mother is actually the one that taught him how to play the piano when he was five years old and he later went on to play the cello. When Carl was growing up he was also involved in the church choir. Orff joined the Munich Academy of Music in 1912 and graduated in 1914. In 1917, Orff was drafted into the war but returned home in 1918 due to a serious injury. When returned he ended up teaching music in Munich, where he lived and composed for majority of his life. Carl Orff died in 1982 in Munich, Germany due to cancer.
Orff composed pieces based off on medieval life, religion, social satires, and drinking songs. He was heavily influenced by the renaissance era and baroque era as well. He also used and German and Latin poetry and tales of love, lust, and the pleasure of drinking. Although Orff is considered Modern contemporary he has some medieval and other feels to his compositions. His compositions are considered timeless because they don’t have musical techniques from one period instead it is almost a mix from different musical time periods. An example of this would Orff’s piece titled Carmina Burana.
One of Orff’s most recognized pieces of work is the Carmina Burana from 1936. Which was a rework of an 1847 edition by Johann Andreas. This piece was based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. It is structured into five major sections and has twenty-five total movements throughout. The five sections consist of a prologue, epilogue, and three equal length parts. The composition consisted of exotic sounds and sexual themes. People weren’t normally used to this but the piece became popular among the public. The chorus of Orff’s composition became extremely popular and is still widely known today.
Sources:
Libbey, Ted. The NPR Listeners Encyclopedia of Classical Music. Workman, 2006.
http://www.classicalcicerone.com/composers/orff.php