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Gaudeamus igitur

English: So Let Us Rejoice
Postcard with symbols of traditional German student life from 1898
Official anthem of FISU World University Games and the International University Sports Federation
Lyrics	Unknown, 1287
Music	Unknown, 1782
Adopted	1959

"De Brevitate Vitae" (Latin for "On the Shortness of Life"), more commonly known as "Gaudeamus igitur" ("So Let Us Rejoice") or just "Gaudeamus", is a popular academic commercium song in many European countries, mainly sung or performed at university graduation ceremonies. Despite its use as a formal graduation hymn, it is a jocular, light-hearted composition that pokes fun at university life. The song is thought to originate in a Latin manuscript from 1287. It is in the tradition of carpe diem ("seize the day") with its exhortations to enjoy life. It was known as a beer-drinking song in many early universities and is the official song of many schools, colleges, universities, institutions, student societies and is the official anthem of the International University Sports Federation.

Content

The lyrics reflect an endorsement of the bacchanalian mayhem of student life while simultaneously retaining the grim knowledge that one day we will all die. The song contains humorous and ironic references to sex and death, and many versions have appeared following efforts to bowdlerise this song for performance in public ceremonies. In private, students will typically sing ribald words.

The song is sometimes known by its opening words, "Gaudeamus igitur" or simply "Gaudeamus". In the UK, it is sometimes affectionately known as "The Gaudie". The centuries of use have given rise to numerous slightly different versions.

Lyrics

The proposition that the lyrics originate in 1287 is based on a manuscript held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. A poem starting with the words Subscribere proposui ("I have suggested signing (it)") has two verses that closely resemble the later Gaudeamus igitur verses, although neither the first verse nor the actual words Gaudeamus igitur appear. The music accompanying this poem bears no relation to the melody which is now associated with it. A German translation of these verses was made in about 1717 and published in 1730 without music. A Latin version in a handwritten student songbook, dating from some time between 1723 and 1750, is preserved in the Berlin State Library (formerly located at Marburg); however, this differs considerably from the modern text. The current Latin lyrics with a German translation were published by Halle in 1781 in Studentenlieder ("Students' Songs") written by Christian Wilhelm Kindleben (1748-1785), who admitted to making important changes to the text.

Below is Kindleben's 1781 Latin version, with two translations to English (one anonymous, and another by Tr. J. Mark Sugars, 1997). The New-Latin word Antiburschius refers to opponents of the 19th-century politically active German student fraternities.

When sung, the first two lines and the last line of each stanza are repeated; for instance:

Gaudeamus igitur,
Iuvenes dum sumus,
Gaudeamus igitur,
Iuvenes dum sumus!
Post iucundam iuventutem,
Post molestam senectutem,
Nos habebit humus,
Nos habebit humus.

Music

The first appearance in print of the present melody was in Lieder für Freunde der Geselligen Freude ("Songs for Friends of Convivial Joy"), published in Leipzig in 1782, together with Kindleben's German lyrics; however, the tune was evidently well known before this date. The first publication of the present Latin text together with the present melody was probably in Ignaz Walter's 1797 operatic setting of Doktor Faust. It is also heard in Berlioz' Damnation of Faust.

Johannes Brahms quoted the melody in the final section of his Academic Festival Overture, in a fortissimo rendition performed by the full orchestra.

Sigmund Romberg used it in the operetta The Student Prince, which is set at the University of Heidelberg.

It is quoted in Johann Strauss II's "Studenten-Polka" (Française, Op.263), first performed at the students' ball at the Redoutensaal on 24 February 1862.

The tune is quoted, along with other student songs, in the overture of Franz von Suppé's 1863 operetta Flotte Burschen, the action being once again set at the University of Heidelberg.

Basing it on the original melody, Franz Liszt has composed the Gaudeamus igitur—Paraphrase and later (1870) the Gaudeamus igitur—Humoreske.

Modern version is rearrangement for male chorus with piano accompaniment, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1874) (TH 187 ; ČW 413).

Tom Lehrer mentioned the Gaudeamus in his satirical song, "Bright College Days":

Turn on the spigot
Pour the beer and swig it
And gaudeamus igit-itur

In 1979, New England Science Fiction Association member Joe Ross wrote a parody of the song, with lyrics referencing the 1955 film This Island Earth. The parody was titled "Haec Insula Terra" (a Latin translation of the film's title) and was published in the first volume of the NESFA Hymnal. Warwick Academy in Bermuda uses part of the lyrics as their school song.

See also

• Ars longa, vita brevis
• Gaudy
• Ubi sunt

References

1. For instance, the noun membrum (member) has the same double meaning in Latin as in English.
2. ^ Fuld, James J (1966) The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk, Dover Publications (2012 edition), ISBN 978-0486414751 (pp. 241–242)
3. Papadopoulos, George-Julius (2005), Johannes Brahms and nineteenth-century comic ideology, University of Washington (p. 360)
4. "Gaudeamus igitur / Brüder laßt uns lustig sein". Ingeb.org. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
5. "Gaudeamus igitur". Dr. Christopher S. Morrissey, Trinity Western University. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
6. Studentenlieder. – Aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines unglücklichen Philosophen Florido genannt, gesammlet und verbessert von C. W. K. 1781, p. 56–58 & p. Vf. (title page with a flower and decoration).
   Reprint inside: Studentensprache und Studentenlied in Halle vor hundert Jahren. Neudruck des ‘Idiotikon der Burschensprache’ von 1795 und der ‘Studentenlieder’ von 1781. Eine Jubiläumsausgabe für die Universität Halle-Wittenberg dargebracht vom Deutschen Abend in Halle: Max Niemeyer (Druck: Buchdruckerei des Waisenhauses), Halle a. S., 1894, Studentenlieder p. 52–54 & p. V (title page with a leaf) (Google (complete work), Google (only the Studentenlieder))
7. Everett, William A (2007), Sigmund Romberg Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0300111835 (pp. 142–143)
8. "SUPPE: Famous Overtures". www.naxos.com. Naxos Digital Services Ltd. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
9. "Gaudeamus igitur – Humoreske, S509". www.hyperion-records.co.uk. Hyperion.

External links

• Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Gustav Schwetschke: Gaudeamus igitur. Eine Studie von Hoffmann von Fallersleben. Nebst einem Sendschreiben und Carmen an Denselben von Gustav Schwetschke. Halle, 1872.

Other (often non-original but altered) text variants:

• Johann Christian Christoph Rüdiger (editor, published as only "R-d-r"): Auswahl guter Trinklieder, oder Töne der Freude und des Weins, beym freundschaftlichen Mahle anzustimmen. Aus den besten Dichtern gesammlet. – Trink- oder Commersch-Lieder, beym freundschaftlichen Mahle zu singen, aus den besten Dichtern gesammlet. 2nd edition, Hendelscher Verlag, Halle 1795, p. 142–143.
• Neues deutsches allgemeines Commers- und Liederbuch. Germania, 1815, p. 20–21 and 180–183 (Das neue Gaudeamus).
• Leipziger Commersbuch. Bei Karl Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1816, p. 106–108.
• Berlinisches Commersbuch. Bey Theodor Joh. Chr. Fr. Enslin, Berlin, 1817, p. 27–28 and 158–159 (Das neue Gaudeamus).
• Neues Commersbuch. Germania, 1818, p. 42–43.
• Neues teutsches allgemeines Commers- und Liederbuch. 3rd edition, Germania, 1820 (Tübingen in der Osiander'schen Buchhandlung), p. 25–26.
• Auswahl deutscher Volks- und Burschen-Lieder. Gedruckt und verlegt von der Deckerschen Geheimen Ober-Hofbuchdruckerei, Berlin, 1821, p. 113–114.
• Urceus Lebensreise. – Meine Lebensreise. In sechs Stazionen zur Belehrung der Jugend und zur Unterhaltung des Alters beschrieben von Urceus. Nebst Franz Volkmar Reinhard's Briefen an den Verfasser. Leipzig, 1825, p. 179–180 containg Das neue Gaudeamus (The new Gaudeamus).
• Deutsche Studenten-Lieder des siebzehnten und achtzehnten Jahrhunderts. Nach alten Handschriften gesammelt und mit einleitenden Bemerkungen über die geschichte des deutschen Studentenliedes versehen von Dr. Robert Keil und Dr. Richard Keil. Verlag von M. Schauenburg & C., Lahr, p. 165–167 having „Gaudeamus igitur. (Jenenser Blatt vom Jahr 1776.)“.
• a medical travesty, by Kayser from Breslau:
  • Archivii italiani di laringologia periodico trimestrale. Anno X.   Ottobre 1890   Fasc. 4. Napoli, 1890, p. 180–181.
  • Internationales Centralblatt für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und verwandte Wissenschaften. Siebenter Jahrgang. (Juli 1890 bis Juni 1891.) Berlin, 1891, p. 132–133.
• Charles B. Randolph (1912). "Three Latin Students' Songs". The Classical Journal. 7 (7). JSTOR: 291–305. JSTOR 3287680. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
• "Gaudeamus igitur / Brüder laßt uns lustig sein / Riemuitkaamme, vielä on". Ingeb.org. Retrieved 2012-07-12.. Gaudeamus igitur, lyrics in Latin, English, German, Finnish and Esperanto, midi melody
• "Gaudeamus igitur". Dr. Christopher S. Morrissey, Trinity Western University. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
• "Gaudeamus Igitur - English Translation". Karl's Choral Music Webpage. Retrieved 2021-05-04.

Songs:

• De Brevitate Vitae performed by the Roosevelt Academy Choir
• Gaudeamus Igitur sung at Smith College convocation, 2008 Note the stomping and enthusiasm for the "Vivat academia!" and "Vivant professores" lines.
• Gaudeamus Igitur. Full Latin version. Sung by Basil Billow (audio)

• Commercium songs
• Songs in Latin
• Latin words and phrases
• Graduation songs
• FISU World University Games
• Sporting songs
• 13th-century songs
• Works subject to expurgation