Academy of Music in Munich

»The academy as a whole was conservative and old-fashioned.«[1]

Orff found the tuition at the Academy of Music (1912-1914) over-conservative. He devoted himself intensively to the independent study of Schoenberg’s harmonic theory and works and the music of Debussy. It was particularly Debussy’s tonal language which provided inspiration for his first work for the stage: ›Gisei‹, a musical drama Op. 20 (1913) set to his own text which was loosely based on the Japanese No drama Terakoya.

Up to 1914, he followed the major trends of the musical avant-garde as can be seen for example in the orchestral work ›Tanzende Faune‹ or the dream play ›Treibhauslieder‹ set to poems by M. Maeterlinck, of which only a few sketches have survived.

Directly before the outbreak of World War I, Orff recognised that he was progressing on the wrong track and radically changed direction. He was irrevocably attracted by the theatre.

 

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[1] CO-Dok I,44; [2] CO-Dok I,57; [3] CO-Dok I,51; [4] CO-Dok I,45
Images: 1 from: »Carl Orff – Ein Bericht in Wort und Bild« Schott-Verlag, Mainz 1955; 2-3 OZM; 4 CO-Dok I,112
Audio: WER 6279-2

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