Work of the Week - Carl Orff: Tanzende Faune

The early works of Carl Orff, those that he wrote before Carmina Burana in 1937, were completely unknown until relatively recently. Among them, Tanzende Faune (1914) and Des Turmes Auferstehung (1921) which were premiered only in 1995, some 80 years after they were written. Remarkably impressionistic and experimental, Tanzende Faune was written when Orff was just 18 years old. The title is reminiscent of Debussy's "L’Après-midi d’un faune" and follows a similar model. Orff himself gave the subtitle "orchestral play" and described the piece as "a dance piece in disguise for the stage". After the premiere, the work remained a rarity. Paavo Jarvi is marking the 25th anniversary of Orff's death with two performances on 24 & 25 May at the Alte Oper, Frankfurt with the hr-Sinfonieorchester.