Carl Orff

Most people know German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982) through his remarkably popular 1937 work for chorus and orchestra Carmina burana. Orff was born, lived, and died in Munich, receiving much of his early training at the Munich Academy under Kaminski. In 1924 he co-founded a school for gymnastics, music and dance, which led inevitably to his pedagogical devices for young children to make music, a method still widely practiced that utilizes simple percussion instruments. His adult works also sought musical primitivism, as represented by pulsing ostinatos that bear the influence of Stravinsky. All his major works, including Carmina burana and several Greek tragedies, were designed as pageants for the stage.