Saturday 29 September 2012
Tune of the Day: Gaudeamus igitur
Traditional European academic song
Also known as “De Brevitate Vitae” (“On the Shortness of Life”), this is a popular academic song in many European countries, mainly sung or performed at university graduation ceremonies. Despite its use as a formal graduation hymn, it is a very light-hearted composition in the tradition of carpe diem (“seize the day”), which exhorts to enjoy life. The song dates to the early 18th century, based on a Latin manuscript from 1287.
Johannes Brahms quoted the hymn in the final section of his Academic Festival Overture. The hymn is also quoted, along with other student songs, in the overture of Franz von Suppé's 1863 operetta Flotte Burschen.