Despite the liturgical feeling that Carmina Burana at first encounter evokes, being written mostly in Latin and set to choral music by Carl Orff, it is anything but that. It is actually a collection of songs that celebrate earthly delights. It felt impossible to resist the temptation of juxtaposing nudes and Latin chorus work.
Carmina Burana, Latin for “Lieder von Benediktbeuern", a town in southern Germany, is a manuscript of about 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. Found in an abby in the 20th century the pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent, and satirical. They were written principally in Medieval Latin, a few in Middle High German and old Arpitan. Some are macaronic, a mixture of Latin and German or French vernacular.
