The Orlando Consort: The Discourse of Medieval Love

When C. S. Lewis asserted that medieval allegorical poetry was “apt to repel the modern reader,” he did so at a time when the modern performance of medieval music was in its infancy. It is not known if in 1936 Lewis had heard any of the numerous chansons by Guillaume de Machaut, the bawdy and sometimes suggestive carnival songs from Florence, or the luscious harmonies set to the Song of Songs by composers like Dunstable, Clemens and Gombert. The Orlando Consort, from England, performs this program of secular and sacred music to stir and charm the modern audience, illustrating the ways in which desire inspired the medieval mind.

Listen to a sample of The Orlando Consort

Image above: Orlando Consort © Eric Richmond.

 

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