Corvus Corax is a German band known for playing Medieval metal using authentic instruments. Their name is the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name for the

common raven The common raven or northern raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all Corvidae, corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. There are 11 accepted subspecies with little variatio ...

. The band was formed in 1989 by Castus Rabensang, Wim (Venustus) and Meister Selbfried ("Master Selfpeace") in East Germany. The band often uses

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

s as the solo instrument; their live performances attract attention with the bizarre look of the musicians being reminiscent of ancient

Greek myths Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancient ...

: half-naked, dressed in unusual clothes, wearing primitive tribal decorations, often tattooed. Today the band consists of seven members: Castus Rabensang ("Castus Ravensong"), Xandru, Norri (formerly known as Harmann der Drescher), Hatz ("Hunt"), Vit and Victorius. In May 2005 Meister Selbfried, one of the Corvus Corax founders and the researcher of medieval music, decided to cease his active musicianship and to dedicate himself mostly to managing Corvus Corax's own label Pica Records. His place in the line-up was taken by Jordon Finus in 2006. The band releases its music through Pica Records in Europe and Noir Records in the US. The Cantus Buranus projects have thus far been released in Europe by Roadrunner Europe.

Interpretation and theory

Because medieval music theory was dominated by ecclesiastics, it is often difficult to determine from the existing manuscripts just how the secular medieval music sounded. Corvus Corax draws on a number of sources to try to make their music as authentic as possible: they have used documents that "condemn profane music" as an indicator of what the music might have sounded like, and drawn on nineteenth century scholarly treatises for information. In many cases these treatises are unreliable, as they impart more nineteenth century ''interpretations'' of medieval music than factual information on what the music was like. But the profane music of the day was often accompanied by a droning bass tone similar to that generated by the bourdon stop on an organ, which is provided in Corvus Corax's case by the drones on their bagpipes. An inkling as to the harmonies used is found in a song by Walter von der Vogelweide, in which he calls for the song to be played "the old way", meaning harmonising with thirds. At the time, the third was considered an awkward, ugly interval by the sacred musician—like the

tritone In music theory, the tritone is defined as a interval (music), musical interval spanning three adjacent Major second, whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be ...

, or diabolus in musica—but it was a common interval in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. Matters are further complicated by the fact that each

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...

would add his personal interpretation to a piece, and that recorded (i.e. written) versions may differ depending on who did the transcribing, and where. It is on this that Corvus Corax's interpretation hinges: medieval popular music was played more from the heart than the brain, and despite making use of scholarship to give them a grounding, Corvus Corax attempts to maintain the spirited, free manner in which the minstrels themselves would have played the music.

Projects

In 1996 the band released the album ''

Tanzwut Tanzwut () is a German Neue Deutsche Härte and Medieval metal band which originated as a side project of Corvus Corax members. The band uses a Medieval theme during their live performances which are expressed through their stagecraft, costum ...

'' which combined the elements of

metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

with their brand sound of

s. The CD turned out to be a commercially successful experiment and the band decided to continue the tradition of that album in a separate musical project called

, which included Castus Rabensang (German Rabensang = ravensong), Wim, and Teufel (German Teufel = Devil) from Corvus Corax as well as three new members. Corvus Corax-Live-Wacken 2010

In 2005 Corvus Corax started the ambitious project '' Cantus Buranus'': a full-length opera set to the original ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreveren ...

'' manuscript lyrics. The music for the opera was fully composed by the band and had no connection with the famous work by

Carl Orff Carl Heinrich Maria Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata ''Carmina Burana (Orff), Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Orff Schulwerk, Schulwerk were influential for ...

. It was performed with symphonic orchestra, choir and medieval ensemble, combining traditional symphonism with medieval

-like melodies. The project included a CD recording, a DVD, as well as live performances. A live CD and DVD recording of Cantus Buranus was released in March 2006. 2005 also marked the band's debut concerts in the US. The band performed four sets on each of four different days in mid-October, not far from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. There was also a "secret show" held for employees of the Faire. Footage shot by the band members and crew was assembled into a featurette that was included as a bonus track on the US edition of the band's live DVD, ''Gaudia Vite''. Out on 1 August 2008 via the band owned label Pica Music, ''Cantus Buranus II'' was released., It is a new orchestral recording of songs from the medieval manuscript "Carmina Burana". The Berlin-based act created a composition for orchestra, choir and a medieval ensemble and recorded the CD and DVD live in the Museum Island in front of 5,000 people. A collaboration with the Russian band Ottawa Yo appeared on YouTube on December 31, 2022. Corvus Corax performed a live rendition of their song "Ballade De Mercy" in the pilot episode of the TV series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'', based on the fantasy series ''

A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of high fantasy novels by the American author George R. R. Martin. Martin began writing the first volume, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and published it in 1996. Martin, who originally envisioned the ser ...

'' by George R.R. Martin. The pilot episode was changed dramatically before it aired on TV, and the performance was not used.

Discography

Studio Albums

* ''Ante Casu Peccati'' (1989) * ''Congregatio'' (1990) * ''Inter Deum Et Diabolum Semper Musica Est'' (1993) * ''Tritonus'' (1995) * ''Viator'' (1998) * ''Tempi Antiquii'' (1999, compilation of works from 1988 to 1992) * ''Mille Anni Passi Sunt'' (2000 – limited edition of 2000 copies issued as 'MM') * ''In Electronica Remixe'' (2000) * ''Seikilos'' (2002) * ''Best of Corvus Corax'' (2005) * '' Cantus Buranus'' (2005) * ''Venus Vina Musica'' (2006) * ''Kaltenberg Anno MMVII'' (2007, compilation) * ''

Cantus Buranus II ''Cantus Buranus II'' is a studio album by Neo-Medieval band Corvus Corax. Track listing # "Veritas Simplex" - 8:30 # "Miser" - 5:20 # "Custodes Sunt Raptores" - 6:09 # "De Mundi Statu" - 4:58 # "Ordu Languet" - 5:55 # "Vitium In Opere" - 6:18 ...

'' (released on 1 August 2008.)See the band's official website and ''Cantus Buranus'' project website * ''Cantus Buranus – Das Orgelwerk'' (released on 5 December 2008) * ''Kaltenberg Anno MMX'' (2010, compilation) * '' Sverker'' (2011) * ''

Gimlie ''Gimlie'' is a studio album by Neo-Medieval group Corvus Corax. Track listing All songs by Castus Karsten Liehm and Norbert Norri Drescher except 'Twilight of the Thunder God' by Amon Amarth. # "Die Seherin (Intro)" - 1:40 # "Gimlie" - 4:05 ...

'' (2013) * ''Ars Mystica – Selectio 1989–2016'' (2016, compilation) * ''Der Fluch des Drachen'' (2017) * ''Skál'' (2018) * ''Die Maske des Roten Todes'' (2021) * ''Era Metallum'' (2022) * ''Tausend Jahre Tanzmusik'' (2024)

Live Albums

* ''Live auf dem Wäscherschloß'' (1998) * ''Gaudia Vite (live)'' (2003) * ''Cantus Buranus Live in Berlin'' (2006) * ''Live in Berlin'' (released in July 2009) * ''Sverker Live DVD & CD At Summer Breeze & Castelfest – feat. WADOKYO'' (2013) * ''Live 2015 – Auf dem Trolls et Légendes Festival'' (2015)

EPs/Singles

* ''Tanzwut'' EP (1996) * ''Corvus Corax erzählen Märchen aus alter Zeit'' EP (2000) * ''Hymnus Cantica'' CDS (2002)

DVD/Video

* ''Gaudia Vite Live DVD – USA Edition'' (2006) * ''Cantus Buranus Live in Berlin'' DVD (2006) * ''Corvus Corax Live in Berlin – Passionskirche'' DVD (2009) * ''Cantus Buranus Live in München'' DVD (2010) * ''Sverker Live DVD & CD At Summer Breeze & Castelfest – feat. WADOKYO'' (2013)

References

External links

Corvus Corax official websiteTanzwut official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corvus Corax German musical groups Musical groups established in 1989 Medieval musical groups Medieval metal musical groups German folk metal musical groups