Oswald von Wolkenstein: politician, diplomat, castle owner, Knight of the Realm and bon vivant... these were his 'main professions' that took him to nearly all regions of the world known during his time. Today, he is primarily known for his most important 'hobby' of which he was a master as poet, musician and composer; a fine singer and player of diverse instruments; and as master of about ten languages. From no other poet-composer of the Middle Ages has such a multi-faceted repertoire been handed down. He created real popular songs and simple, monophonic narrative songs as well as complex polyphony. Almost everything that was in vogue during his time can be found in his personal manuscripts: we find such strange yet fascinating sounds as those from his pen.

For this CD, 'The Cosmopolitan – Songs by Oswald von Wolkenstein', Marc Lewon has compiled a programme with his Ensemble Leones that does justice to Oswald's versatility as poet and musician. Alongside rarely heard pieces, they present a series of first recordings ranging from multilingual 'macaronic' Lieder and travel descriptions to true musical gems.