Parental home

»My father was a dedicated army officer [...].My mother possessed a quintessentially artistic nature and was a fundamentally intelligent woman.« [1]

»I got on particularly well with my sister who was three years younger. Affectionate and convinced of the ›superiority‹ of her big brother, she was always willing to join in, whether it was playing theatre, music-making or other pastimes.«[[1] (Mia and Carl Orff 1903)
(Mia and Carl Orff 1903)

   

»When I was just five, my mother began to give me proper piano lessons [...].« [2]»She had been taught the piano by her cousin Josef Giehrl, the famous pupil of Liszt and friend of Richard Strauss, and had achieved a concert level by the age of twelve. She was the life and soul of all music-making in the home and generally the person in charge of the family.« [3](The parents Heinrich and Paula Orff 1894)
»Diagonally opposite our house was the rehearsal location of the regimental band [...]. These sounds were so familiar to me [...] and pursued me even into my dreams.«[4] (Carl Orff 1898, three years old)
»I experienced all these sacred and military ›spectacles‹ throughout my youth. They were also an overture to the world of theatre whose curtains gradually began to part

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[1] CO-Dok I,14; [2] CO-Dok I,22; [3] CO-Dok I,15; [4] CO-Dok I,13; [5] CO-Dok I,16
Images: all OZM except Viktualienmarkt: Munich City Archives
Video: IWF Knowledge and Media, Göttingen, 1958

»As soon as I reached the age of five, my mother began to give me piano lessons...«
Carl Orff reminisces about his childhood.

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Parental home

Grandparents

Das »Orff-Häusl« am Eingang vom Englischen Garten, Aquarell von Carl Valentin Blank

Schooldays