CONTINUUM: Satires, Desires & Excesses - Songs of the Carmina Burana

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Milton G. Scheuermann, Jr.

Published March 14, 2021 at 12:06 AM CST

Continuum presents excerpts from the 12th century manuscript, Carmina Burana

(The Songs from Beuern). This medieval manuscript was discovered in 1803 in

the library of the Bavarian Benedictine monastery of Benedictbeuern in

southern Germany. The songs, numbering over 200, are mostly bawdy,

irreverent and satirical, and are in three categories: Moral and Sacred

Songs, Songs of Springtime and Love, and Songs of Gambling, Eating and

Drinking. This important manuscript inspired German composer Carl Orff to

write his famous scenic cantata of the same name in 1936. The performance is

by New Orleans Musica da Camera from their CD, Satires, Desires & Excesses -

Centaur CRC 2145

Milton G. Scheuermann, Jr.

Milton has been the co-host (with Thais St. Julien) of Continuum since 1976. Continuum is an hour long program of all kinds of early music recorded by groups around the world. Milton, an architect by trade, harbors a life long passion for vocal and instrumental music of the 10th though 17th centuries. He co-directs a professional early music ensemble, Musica da Camera where many of the over 100 instruments played were constructed from original manuscript drawings. Additionally, Milton has a passion for the music of Richard Wagner and for magic as a performing art.

See stories by Milton G. Scheuermann, Jr.