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MOS Composer of the Month: Previous Page, Next Page, Index |
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Composer of the Month - October, 2005 Carl Orff, 1895-1982- The MOS has recently collaborated with the Atlanta Ballet to combine the choral arts with the art of dance. This October 27-30 brings the latest experience in this relationship: the MOS will provide the choral component of the Ballet's production of Carmina Burana, Carl Orff's most famous composition.
Orff's primary theme in his compositions was fairy tale and mythology. Kleines Welttheater (Little World Theater) was based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, and Die Kluge - Die Geschichte von dem König und der klugen Frau (The Clever One - The Story of the King and the Clever Woman ) was inspired by another fairy tale from German folklore. Besides his love of fairy tales, Orff used religious themes as well, producing Comoedia de Christi Resurrectione for Easter and Ludus de Nato Infante Mirificus for Christmas. (Don't misread Comoedia; in its original usage, it referred only to a non -tragedy.) However, all of the others pale in comparison to Carmina. Ask most music lovers what else Orff wrote, and you are likely to be met with a certain shuffling of the feet and a blank stare. Even Orff himself considered Carmina in a league of its own in his catalogue. He told his publisher, "Now you can take everything that I've written thus far and you've already printed unfortunately and dump it." The lyrics were written by a band of ex-priests, in words that celebrate a life of merry-making that priests are certainly not accustomed to. Orff's music captures this spirit of vivacity in a way that should have definitely brought him much personal satisfaction. But it was his love of teaching the arts that is Orff's true legacy. At the age of 29, Orff, with Dorothy Günther, co -founded the Günther School for the teaching of music, dance, and gymnastics. There he developed a new approach to teaching music and movement, the Orff-Schulwerk. This was so successful that his methods are still very much alive in the west. The American Orff-Schulwerk Association has 90 chapters, and the Canadian association has eleven. There are national Orff-Schulwerk associations in 28 other countries worldwide. For further reading on Carl Orff: Click here for more information about the MOS Composer of the Month feature. |
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MOS Composer of the Month: Previous Page, Next Page, Index
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