About this Artist

Born:  1895, Munich, Germany
Died:  1982, Munich

"Melody and speech belong together. I reject the idea of a pure music."

After military service in World War I, Orff was a theater conductor in Mannheim and Darmstadt, and "total theater" would be the goal of most of his compositions. He wrote a number of musical plays, opera-ballets, scenic cantatas, and similar mixed forms, reviving the style of early music, refreshed with sharply accented rhythmic patterns and pungent counterpoint. He was also a vastly influential music educator, creating training methods and simplified percussion instruments for elementary school children.