Carl Orff

In 1920, Carl Orff married Alice Solscher. The couple had one daughter, Godela, born in 1921. The marriage did not last long and they obtained their divorce in 1925.

However, he kept in contact with their daughter, who later grew up to be an actress. He was known to have composed several pieces for her. Contrarily, his daughter had described their relationship as difficult. In an interview she had said, “He had his life and that was that."

After the breakup of his first marriage Orff married thrice more, none of which produced any offspring. Gertrud Willert, whom he married in 1939, was his second wife. The marriage ended in a divorce in 1953.

Carl Orff was born on 10 July 1895 in Munich, Germany, into a Bavarian family with long tradition of services in the military. Originally Jewish by faith, they became Roman Catholic, when his parental grandfather, Carl von Orff, converted to Christianity.

Carl’s father, Heinrich Maria Orff, was a dedicated officer in the Imperial German Army. He was a good pianist and played a variety of string instruments. His mother, Paula Koestler Orff, was also a trained pianist. Apart from Carl, the couple had one daughter Maria, three years his junior.

He remembered his mother as the life and soul of music-making in the house. She was also the first person to recognize his talent. Later he had said, “My mother possessed quintessentially artistic nature and was a fundamentally intelligent woman.”

Young Carl grew up in a musical environment. Apart from the music-making at home, he experienced it in other ways too. For example, there was a house opposite to their home, where the regimental band held their rehearsals and the sound flowing in pursued him even in his dreams.

Around 1900, as he turned five, his mother started giving him piano lessons. Two years later, he was introduced to the cello and then from 1903, he started visiting concerts and theatres. He also enjoyed holding puppet shows at home. Writing stories and collecting insects were also his favorite pastimes.

In 1915, soon after receiving his degree from Academy of Music, Carl Orff began to take piano lessons with Hermann Zilcher. In the same year, at Zilcher’s recommendation, he was employed as the assistant Kapellmeister at the famed Muenchener Kammerspiele.

Although he enjoyed working at the opera, he soon left his job. At this point, all he wanted to do was to study more. Many of his initial works of this period highlighted the on-going experimental musical trends.

Later, he changed his direction but before he could make much progress, he was drafted into the army. Thus he joined the World War I in 1917. But while fighting in the eastern front, he was trapped in a shelter and was seriously injured. He spent the rest of the war years recuperating.

In 1918, after being released from his war duties, Orff began to work freelance. He held the position of assistant Kapellmeister first at the Nationaltheater (National Theatre) in Mannheim and then at the Landestheater (State Theater) in Darmstadt.

In 1919, he returned to Munich to teach music. Concurrently, he began to study with German composer Heinrich Kaminski. Slowly he started developing an interest in Renaissance-era music and began to study the works of old masters.

In 1924, Carl Orff entered a new phase in life. Along with Dorothee Günther, Orff founded the Günther School for gymnastics, music, and dance in Munich and remained its head until it was closed down in 1944.

Concurrently, he continued with his work on old masters and produced a number of operas based on 17th century classics such as ‘Klage der Ariadne’ (Ariadne's Lament), ‘Tanz der Sproeden’ (Dance of the Merciless Beauties), etc. However, none of them were financially successful.

Working with children at the Günther School, he developed new theories on music education. Later known as 'elementare musik’, it included all aspects of the art; dance, music, language, theatrical gestures, etc.

In 1930, he published a manual titled ‘Schulwerk’ and in it he shared his methods. He also provided a curriculum of songs and activities for the teachers, most of which were based on German folk songs and poetry. To go with the programs, he also developed easy to learn percussion instruments.