O Fortuna

The cantata premiered in Nazi Germany and was popular with the public and Nazi leadership; from 1940 it was frequently performed at Party rallies. Orff himself was not a Party member and there’s little evidence he actively supported its policies — but he could never fully separate his reputation from this association. Presented factually.

After the cantata’s success, Orff entered and won a Nazi-government-sponsored competition to rescore “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — notable because the work being replaced was originally scored by Felix Mendelssohn, who was Jewish and whose music the regime had banned. Orff was one of few German composers to participate.

The opening “O Fortuna” movement has become one of the most recognizable and heavily licensed pieces of classical music in modern media since the late 20th century.