Godela Orff reads
Bettina von Arnim: Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde
from the book by Bettina von Arnim
A historical recording of Godela Orff at the Salzburg Festival 1949
To mark the 200th birthday of J.W.v.Goethe, Godela Orff was invited to read from Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde (Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child) by Bettina von Arnim. In her Book “Mein Vater Carl Orff und ich” (My Father Carl Orff and I), she writes: “After the reading, during which I had the impression that I had reached and touched the audience with Bettina’s letters, my father said, ‘You didn’t read – you were Bettina – you two were one’. That is exactly what I had felt, too. And is it any wonder? Bettina’s life was shaped by her love for Goethe, and mine by my love for my father…”
The text is from the “Die Parthenon Bücher” edition, published by H. E. Günther & Co., Stuttgart, in 1947.