Corvus Corax

Tracing fluctuations within mainstream music over the past century presents few obstacles, yet attempts to map comparable currents during the Middle Ages encountered far greater obstacles. Corvus Corax, a German ensemble devoted solely to dark-ages-era popular music, addressed that gap by emphasizing secular melodies of ordinary feudal subjects rather than the ecclesiastical repertoire that prevailed at the time, employing only period-authentic instruments and costumes of the era. Castus Rabensang, Wim Dobbrisch, and Meister Selbfried established the group in 1989 and issued its debut album, Ante Casu Peccati, the same year, followed by Congregatio in 1991. Inter Deum et Diabolum Semper Musica Est appeared in 1993 and Tritonus in 1995, though the 1996 EP Tanzwut achieved the strongest commercial reach; its central innovation of fusing bagpipes with metal prompted the members to launch a parallel project under the same name. Throughout the remainder of the decade the band maintained a steady schedule of full-length releases that encompassed both compilation and live recordings.

A change in personnel occurred in 2005 when one founding member departed to concentrate on the commercial operations of the group and its imprint, Pica Records. That same year brought Corvus Corax’s initial concerts on American soil and the launch of an operatic treatment of Carmina Burana. The resulting work, Cantus Buranus, received its stage premiere in 2005 before appearing on CD and DVD the following year. By then the lineup consisted of Ardor vom Venushugel, Castus Rabensang, Patrick der Kalauer, Harmann der Drescher, Hatz, Jordon Finus, Teufel, and Wim, who together delivered Kaltenberg Anno MMVII in 2007.