From "The Oxford Dictionary of Music" by Michael Kennedy
Orff, Carl (b Munich, 1895; d Munich, 1982). German composer, teacher, and conductor. Studied Munich Academy, leaving to join army 1914. Worked in opera houses and returned to Munich 1920 for study with Kaminsky. In 1924 founded the Gunther School, Munich, where his life-long interest in children's musical education began. About this time he made editions of several operas by Monteverdi, including L'incoronazione di Poppea, comp. cantatas and an Entrata for orch. 'after William Byrd'.
In 1937, when his Carmina Burana was first performed, he disowned all his previous
works, though some were later revised and restored. From then he composed exclusively
for the stage, though not conventionally (Carmina Burana, for example, is usually
given in a concert version). His mature style is dry and staccato, with much
use of percussion and the content of the music based on rhythmic patterns and
their variations. Harmony is reduced to basic elements. and melody is nearer
to rhythmic speech than to the 'expressive' ideal of other composers.