Carl Orff: Leben und Werk/Life and Work. Musicavision. CD-ROM for Windows

Abstract

This CD-ROM presents a rich and colorful scrapbook that includes over four hundred visual presentations (stage sets, scores, manuscripts, and photographs), sound, and full-motion video clips. It functions like a coffee-table book, full of beautiful pictures and text coordinated with sound. Especially noteworthy are the many examples of stage sets for the premieres as well as the later productions of such works as Carmina burana, Catulli carmina, and Tri-onfo di Afrodite. CD also includes excerpts from Orff's fairy-tale operas, Der Mond and Die Kluge, as well as a valuable discography for each work cited and useful information about the first performance and orchestration of each work. One technical flaw exists on the copy reviewed. Venio ad Te excerpt from De temporum fine comoedia appears twice. button on the title page of De temporum plays the without problem, but the example button in the discography section of De temporum would play only about three seconds, then suddenly stop. Repeated tries, as well as closing the program and opening it again, did not correct the problem. installation information is in German. Without reading German the experienced user can make educated guesses and successfully install the software data. For the inexperienced user, however, this situation may prove problematic. Once the program is installed, the user is asked to choose English or German text, and the option is available to change languages when one is at the main contents page. topics in the main menu are: Life, Works, and Audio Games. At the bottom of most pages one finds the following buttons: index (which returns the user to the main menu), info (which explains the icons and how to use this lesson), and quit (which closes the program). Index is useful for searching titles and other words. Info explains and illustrates well the icons that appear throughout the disc. In fact, the icons that appear at the bottom of each presentation page are clear, easily understood, and useful for orientation. Life presents five options or branches to explore: Childhood and Youth, Apprenticeship and Study, The Teacher, Man of the Theater, and Summus finis. Childhood and Youth subdivides into six options: Parents, Grandparents, Sister, Childhood World, an audio clip of Mir tramte von einem Konigskind, and Carl Orff tells his story. Apprenticeship and Study includes four subsections: School Days, of Musical Arts, Learning from the Old Masters, and Conductor. This section includes five photographs, two musical facsimiles, and reproductions of paintings by Leo Rauth and Franz Marc, as well as quotations by Orff, Curt Sachs, Karl Marx, and Theodor Gollner. next subsection within Life is The Teacher, which is subdivided as follows: The Gunther Schools Radio, Music for Children, The Academy of Musical Arts, and The Orff Institute in Salzburg. It includes one audio clip, Zu Maien zu Maien. At least ten photographs appear in this section, including some of Gunild Keetman, important to the Gunther School, as well as quotations by Keetman, Orff, Wilhelm Keller, Karl Marx, and Wilhelm Killmayer. Orff researchers and educators will find the brief chronology of the Schulwerk helpful as well as the indications of Orff's various activities as an educator. subsection on the Orff Institute in Salzburg includes in its three pages statistical information about the diploma program and the institute. Man of the Theater, the next subsection within Life, combines the same types of materials as found in the previous subsections. quotations cited are by Marx, Heinz Ruppel, Keller, Stefan Kunze, Oscar Fritz Schuh, Wilfried Hiller, Carlos Alexander, Gustav Rudolf, Roland Hermann, Wolfgang Fortner, Hans Hotter, and Orff. Summus finis, the final subsection within Life, subdivides into: Important Dates, Work on the Documentation, Andechs (Andechs Monastery), and Carl Orff Foundation and Center, and it includes an audio clip and a video clip. …