Orff started studying the piano at age five and also took organ and cello lessons. However, he was more interested in composing original music than in studying to be a performer. Orff wrote and staged puppet shows for his family, composing music for piano, violin, zither, and glockenspiel to accompany them. He had a short story published in a children's magazine in 1905 and started to write a book about nature. In his spare time he enjoyed collecting insects.
By the time he was a teenager, Orff was writing songs, although he had not studied harmony or composition; his mother helped him set down his first works in musical notation. Orff wrote his own texts and he learned the art of composing, without a teacher, by studying classical masterworks on his own.
In 1911, at age 16, some of Orff's music was published. Many of his youthful works were songs, often settings of German poetry. They fell into the style of Richard Strauss and other German composers of the day, but with hints of what would become Orff's distinctive musical language.
In 1911/1912, Orff wrote ''Also sprach Zarathustra'' (''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''), Op. 14, a large work for baritone voice, three choruses and orchestra, based on a passage from Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical novel of the same title. The following year, he composed an opera, ''Gisei, das Opfer'' (''Gisei, the Sacrifice''). Influenced by the French Impressionist composer Claude Debussy, he began to use colorful, unusual combinations of instruments in his orchestration.
In 1924 Dorothee Günther and Orff founded the Günther School for gymnastics, music, and dance in Munich, where he was from 1925 until the end of his life the head of a department and where he worked with musical beginners. This is where he developed his theories in music education, having constant contact with children. In 1930, Orff published a manual titled ''Schulwerk'', where he shares his method of conducting. Before writing ''Carmina Burana'', Orff edited 17th century operas. Nevertheless, these various activities brought Orff very little money.
Orff was a friend of Kurt Huber, one of the founders of the resistance movement ''Die Weiße Rose'' (the White Rose), who was condemned to death by the Volksgerichtshof and executed by the Nazis in 1943. Orff by happenstance called at Huber's house on the day after his arrest. Huber's distraught wife begged Orff to use his influence to help her husband, but Orff denied her request. If his friendship with Huber came out, he told her, he would be "ruined". Huber's wife never saw Orff again. Wracked by guilt, Orff would later write a letter to his late friend Huber, imploring him for forgiveness.
Most of Orff's later works – ''Antigonae'' (1949), ''Oedipus der Tyrann'' (''Oedipus the Tyrant'', 1958), ''Prometheus'' (1968), and ''De temporum fine comoedia'' (''Play on the End of Times'', 1971) – were based on texts or topics from antiquity. They extend the language of ''Carmina Burana'' in interesting ways, but they are expensive to stage and (on Orff's own admission) are not operas in the conventional sense. Live performances of them have been few, even in Germany.
Orff is most known for ''Carmina Burana'' (1937), a "scenic cantata". It is the first of a trilogy that also includes ''Catulli Carmina'' and ''Trionfo di Afrodite''. ''Carmina Burana'' reflected his interest in medieval German poetry. Together the trilogy is called ''Trionfi'', or "Triumphs". The composer described it as the celebration of the triumph of the human spirit through sexual and holistic balance. The work was based on thirteenth-century poetry found in a manuscript dubbed the ''Codex latinus monacensis'' found in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in 1803 and written by the Goliards; this collection is also known as ''Carmina Burana''. While "modern" in some of his compositional techniques, Orff was able to capture the spirit of the medieval period in this trilogy, with infectious rhythms and easy tonalities. The medieval poems, written in Latin and an early form of German, are often racy, but without descending into smut. "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi", commonly known as "O Fortuna", from ''Carmina Burana'' is often used to denote primal forces, for example in the Oliver Stone movie ''The Doors.''. The work's association with fascism also led Pier Paolo Pasolini to use the movement "Veris Leta Facies" to accompany the concluding scenes of torture and murder in his final film ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom''.
With the success of ''Carmina Burana'', Orff disowned all of his previous works except for ''Catulli Carmina'' and the ''Entrata'' (an orchestration of "The Bells" by William Byrd (1539–1623)), which were rewritten until acceptable by Orff. Later on, however, many of these earlier works were released (some even with Orff's approval). As an historical aside, ''Carmina Burana'' is probably the most famous piece of music composed and premiered in Nazi Germany. ''Carmina Burana'' was in fact so popular that Orff received a commission in Frankfurt to compose incidental music for ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', which was supposed to replace the banned music by Mendelssohn. After the war, he claimed not to be satisfied with the music and reworked it into the final version that was first performed in 1964.
Orff was reluctant to term any of his works simply operas in the traditional sense. His works ''Der Mond'' (''The Moon'', 1939) and ''Die Kluge'' (''The Wise Woman'', 1943), for example, he referred to as "Märchenoper" ("fairytale operas"). Both compositions feature the same "timeless" sound in that they do not employ any of the musical techniques of the period in which they were composed, with the intent that they be difficult to define as belonging to a particular era. Their melodies, rhythms and, with them, text appear in a union of words and music.
About his ''Antigonae'' (1949), Orff said specifically that it was not an opera, rather a ''Vertonung'', a "musical setting", of the ancient tragedy. The text is an excellent German translation, by Friedrich Hölderlin, of the Sophocles play of the same name. The orchestration relies heavily on the percussion section, and is otherwise fairly simple. It has been labelled by some as minimalistic, which is most adequate in terms of the melodic line. The story of Antigone has a haunting similarity to the history of Sophie Scholl, heroine of the White Rose, and Orff may have been memorializing her in his opera.
Orff's last work, ''De Temporum Fine Comoedia'' (''Play on the End of Times''), had its premiere at the Salzburg Festival on August 20, 1973, performed by Herbert von Karajan and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Chorus. In this highly personal work, Orff presented a mystery play, in which he summarized his view on the end of time, sung in Greek, German, and Latin.
''Gassenhauer'', which Orff composed with Gunild Keetman, was used as the theme music for Terrence Malick's film ''Badlands'' (1973). Hans Zimmer later reworked this music for his ''True Romance'' (1993) score.
Orff's ideas were developed, together with Gunild Keetman, into a very innovative approach to music education for children, known as the Orff Schulwerk. The music is elemental and combines movement, singing, playing, and improvisation.
Category:1895 births Category:1982 deaths Category:People from Munich Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Opera composers Category:German composers Category:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Category:German music educators Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Category:Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Members of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
ar:كارل أورف an:Carl Orff bar:Carl Orff bg:Карл Орф ca:Carl Orff cs:Carl Orff da:Carl Orff de:Carl Orff et:Carl Orff el:Καρλ Ορφ es:Carl Orff eo:Carl Orff fa:کارل ارف fr:Carl Orff gl:Carl Orff ko:카를 오르프 hy:Կարլ Օրֆ is:Carl Orff it:Carl Orff he:קרל אורף la:Carolus Orff lt:Carl Orff hu:Carl Orff arz:كارل اورف nl:Carl Orff ja:カール・オルフ no:Carl Orff pl:Carl Orff pt:Carl Orff ro:Carl Orff ru:Орф, Карл sl:Carl Orff sr:Карл Орф sh:Carl Orff fi:Carl Orff sv:Carl Orff th:คาร์ล ออร์ฟ tr:Carl Orff uk:Карл Орф zh:卡尔·奥尔夫This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Coordinates | 33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N |
---|---|
name | André Rieu |
background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
birth name | André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu |
birth date | October 01, 1949 |
origin | Maastricht, Holland |
instrument | Violin |
genre | Waltz |
occupation | Conductor, violinist |
years active | 1978–present |
label | Denon Records , Philips |
website | www.andrerieu.com |
notable instruments | Stradivarius violin (1667) }} |
André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (born 1 October 1949) is a Dutch violinist, conductor, and composer best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.
In April 2009 (Australia)/June 2009 (UK), he made a cameo appearance as himself on "Ramsay Street" in the long-running Australian soap opera ''Neighbours''.
The Orchestra began in 1987 with 12 members but now performs with between 40 and 50 musicians. At the time the Orchestra first toured Europe, there emerged a renewed interest in waltz music. The revival began in the Netherlands and was ignited by their recording of the ''Second Waltz'' from Shostakovich's ''Jazz Suites''. As a result, Rieu became known as the waltz King.
Rieu and his orchestra have performed throughout Europe, in North America, and Japan. Winning a number of awards including two World Music Awards, their recordings have gone gold and platinum in many countries, including 8-times Platinum in the Netherlands. In September 2007 Rieu performed in Australia for the first time solo, without his Orchestra at the Eastland shopping centre in the Melbourne suburb of Ringwood playing "My Way" and "Waltzing Matilda"—and the next day appeared at Sydney's Arena Cove, Warringah Mashopping with the same set. Rieu and orchestra returned to Australia in November as part of his world tour. Rieu and his orchestra played 3 concerts at Melbourne's Telstra Dome from 13–15 November and continued their tour throughout Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, through to December 2008. The concert theme is 'A Romantic Vienna Night' and the set comprises a life-size reproduction of the Viennese imperial Schönbrunn Palace, complete with 2 ice-skating rinks, 2 Fountains, and a ballroom dance floor situated above and behind the Orchestra. Rieu's largest concert attendance to date in Australia was 38,000 on Saturday 15 November in Melbourne. The Perth concert did not feature the replica of the Viennese Palace as it was stated in the press because it would not fit into the front doors of Subiaco Oval.
He records both DVD and CD repertoire at his own recording studios in Maastricht in a wide range of classical music as well as popular and folk music plus music from well-known soundtracks and musical theatre. His lively orchestral presentations, in tandem with incessant marketing, have attracted worldwide audiences to this subgenre of classical music.
Some of his orchestra's performances have been broadcast in the United Kingdom and the United States on the PBS television network such as the 2003 airing of ''Andre Rieu Live in Dublin'', filmed in Dublin, Ireland, and 2005's ''André Rieu Live in Tuscany'' filmed in the Piazza Della Repubblica in the village of Cortona in Tuscany.
Eamon Kelly writing in ''The Australian'' newspaper, in an article that discusses the controversy that Rieu engenders, said: "He depicts his critics as members of a stuffy musical elite with narrow aesthetic tastes, yet regularly demeans in interviews music that is not to his taste and classical musicians who choose not to perform in his manner."
Of Rieu's popularity and the debate in the media over criticism of him, Eamon Kelly says:
It is disappointing to see professional journalists indulging in cheap, inaccurate stereotypes to dismiss criticism of Rieu.
But he goes on to add:
Equally misguided are those who cursorily dismiss Rieu. Rieu's live and recorded performances have brought joy to millions of people. Few in his audiences are regular classical music attendees and it could be seen as promising that, via Rieu, they are listening to standards of the classical canon. The fact that Rieu's focus is on highly accessible, enjoyable repertoire is not an argument against his musical credentials.
Eamon Kelly further adds, after hearing the orchestra perform, that there is "no cause" for Rieu's boast his orchestra was "superior to the many other orchestras that specialise in ... Viennese and popular classical repertoire." Additionally, he found that in musical terms "the performance did not surpass playing standards in Australia's major symphony orchestras". He did add that the "oboist, Arthur Cordewener, provided the most impressive musical performance with a sublime introduction to an otherwise unremarkable performance of [Ravel's] ''Boléro''."
David Templeton, writing in the magazine ''All Things Strings'' says:
Ironically, it is Rieu’s own success that has earned him a horse-drawn carriage full of criticism, a pot-shot laden backlash aimed chiefly at the calculated emotionalism and theatrical flourishes of his performances, which, according to many, only cheapen the classical-music experience. Classical radio stations avoid his music as they might avoid a leper in the mall, though—let’s just say it plain and clear—Rieu is a superb violinist.
Chris Boyd, a critic writing for Melbourne's ''Herald Sun'' newspaper, finds that he could not give a general criticism of the playing of Rieu, as, except for "a clean and lyrical solo in ''Waltzing Matilda''", his main stage function was apparently "blarney and delegation". However, Boyd also comments that the quality of the artists that Rieu works with is "extraordinary". Boyd assesses the low points of the concert as the "Three Tenors-style" rendition of "Nessun dorma" which he finds was an "abomination", while saying the concert's highlights included "a sugar-shock sweet rendition" of "O mio babbino caro" as well as Strauss's ''Emperor Waltz'' and ''Blue Danube'', Clarke's ''Trumpet Voluntary'' and the ''Boléro''.
== Selected discography ==
Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:Dutch classical violinists Category:Dutch conductors (music) Category:Maastricht Academy of Music alumni Category:People from Maastricht Category:People of Huguenot descent Category:Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Dutch people of French descent
ar:أندري ريو bg:Андре Рийо ca:André Rieu cs:André Rieu da:André Rieu de:André Rieu es:André Rieu fr:André Rieu hr:André Rieu it:André Rieu he:אנדרה ריו li:André Rieu hu:André Rieu nl:André Rieu ja:アンドレ・リュウ pl:André Rieu pt:André Rieu ru:Рьё, Андре sv:André Rieu war:André Rieu zh:安德烈·瑞欧This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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