Rethinking the Carmina Burana (I): The Medieval Context and Modern Reception of the Codex Buranus

This article combines medieval and modern studies, reconstructing the context in which one of the most celebrated manuscripts transmitting Latin and vernacular poetry of the Middle Ages, the Codex Buranus (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, clm. 4660), was produced and examining both its scholarly and “popular” reception, with attention to the musical settings by Carl Orff. Preliminary to a three-volume edition of the Carmina Burana being prepared for Oxford University Press, the study seeks to distinguish the main issues for future research and to stimulate interdisciplinary discussion. The article is based on research into primary sources, some of them unknown.