celebrating composer Carl Orff on his birthday

Carl Orff is one of the most well-known composers to metal fans! It's possible that some people don't know they already know Orff's music, but they do. Sepultura, Vital Remains, Iced Earth, Therion, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra —among who knows what other bands— have covered or used his music. I'm just mentioning the ones that I know for a fact, but above all, metal audiences know Orff's music because Ozzy Osbourne used it as the introduction to his concerts. Check out this biography from Wikipedia.

Carl Heinrich Maria Orff (10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator who is best known for composing the cantata Carmina Burana and formulating concepts of his Schulwerk (lit. 'schoolwork'), which became influential for children's music education.

Born in Munich, Orff was raised in a military family that was fairly musical and later attended the Munich Academy of Music. After composing a number of Lieder and other orchestral works, he completed his Carmina Burana for voices and large orchestra in 1937, setting 24 poems from the medieval poetry collection of the same name. Its première was an immediate great success and Orff considered it the first time he had done exactly what he wanted. While the cantata's popularity continued to rise throughout and after World War II, Orff never received nearly as much recognition or attention for his later works like the latter two parts of his triptych Trionfi, of which Carmina Burana is the first instalment.

Orff was also an influential pedagogue who developed an approach (the "Orff Schulwerk") to teaching children, which is a collection of fundamental principles to ensure every child learns music, much like a new language, in a comfortable environment. It involves tools like elementary forms of instruments and specifically composed music (the original form of the Schulwerk).

Part of the Reichsmusikkammer, Orff's relationship with the Nazi Party has been analysed by many as he was considerably successful (musically and financially) under its rule and whose work was well-liked by contemporary critics. Having concealed his part-Jewish ancestry throughout his life, Orff underwent denazification and was rated "acceptable" by his evaluator who characterised him as a passive anti-Nazi. He went on to be granted an unrestricted license with no further prohibitions from public musical activities and continued to compose stage works and rework previous compositions up till his death in 1982.

CARL ORFF - André Rieu - O Fortuna (Carmina Burana - Carl Orff)

Therion - O Fortuna

Trans-Siberian Orchestra & Savatage: Carmina Burana (Wacken 2015)