Carl Orff: Carmina Burana. O Fortuna misheard lyrics. Martin Kettle on new film about Carmina Burana's composer Carl Orff. The name Carl Orff generally means one of two things.
The first is that Orff was the composer of the insistently earthy Carmina Burana, the ever-popular choral celebration of sex, drinking and youthful excess made famous at Premier League football grounds and in television ads for aftershave and lager. The second is that he was the foremost German composer to achieve international eminence during the Nazi years.