Ely Sinfonia to Perform Camina Burana in Ely Cathedral

Ely Sinfonia

Ely Cathedral, Chapter House, The College, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4DL

Saturday 24 October 2015

7.30pm

Why is Carmina Burana so infamous? It is true that much of it is based on bawdy student songs celebrating such un-monklike earthly delights as drinking, gambling, dancing and lovemaking, but it also includes some poems written to be morally uplifting.

Carmina Burana marked a complete change in Carl Orff’s musical style and was an immediate hit. Described by the composer himself as a ‘scenic cantata’, it uses a very large orchestra and was originally designed for the stage, with dancing and mime accompanying the music, although we are doing without those tonight.

But we begin with Joseph Canteloube’s delightful collection of folk songs from the Auvergne region of France, originally conceived on a train journey in the early spring of 1923. A concert of exquisite contrasts!