It was a lucky fluke that Carl Orff found a printed copy of Carmina Burana while looking through an antique shop catalogue in 1934. This led to the composition of a colourful collection of spring-, dance-, and love songs that was to become the most performed and loved masterpiece of the classical music literature in the 20th century. Full of enthusiasm, Orff delved into intensive studies of the lyrics: " It wasn't easy to find one's way through the codex with over 250 songs and poems. ", the composer reported in a documentary of his life and works. Most of them were in Latin: but there was a great number in mediaeval German. In addition there were mixtures of Latin texts with a sprinkling of French refrains.

(…) a searching and sifting began, a discovering and rejecting, until particular pieces emerged out of the mass. Through repeated reading, particular verses stood out from the multi-versed poems, leading to new implications. In this way, the textual composition of the "scenic cantata" was soon defined… What impressed me most of all was the stirring rhythm as well as the expressiveness of this creation and, last but not least, the musicality full of vowels and the unique compactness of the Latin language."