Academic Festival Overture (tr Patterson)

From Wind Repertory Project
Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms (trans. Merlin Patterson)


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General Info

Year: 1880 / 2012
Duration: c. 10:45
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Merlin Patterson
Cost: Score and Parts - $275.00


Instrumentation

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Errata

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Program Notes

The University of Breslau awarded Brahms an honorary degree in 1880 and he reciprocated by writing an overture. Brahms conducted the piece at the University on January 4, 1881. The overture includes student drinking songs and retains the gay atmosphere of college life. Heard are: Wir hatten gebauet em stattliches Haus ("We have built a stately house"), played by the brass choir; Der Landesvater ("The Land Father"), given out by the violins in the orchestral version; Was kommt dort von der Hoh ("What comes from afar") by the woodwinds and strings, and, finally the magnificent Gaudeamus igitur ("Wherefore let us rejoice"), by the whole ensemble.

- Program note by University of Houston Moores School of Music Wind Ensemble


Johannes Brahms accepted an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the University of Breslau, and expressed his gratitude by composing the Academic Festival Overture -from the students’ point of view. The overture is a medley of popular student drinking songs of the day: Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus, Der Landesvater, Fuchsleid, and Gaudeamus igitur, whose lyrics include “Let us rejoice, while we are young, after a pleasant youth, after a troubling old age, the earth will have us.” The emphasis is mostly on the “festival” rather than the “academic” in an overture that brims with color, energy, and an irrepressible sense of fun. Brahms himself described the piece as “a very boisterous potpourri of student songs.”

- Program Note from Spring High School Wind Ensemble concert program, 16 December 2016


Media

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State Ratings

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Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer

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Resources

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