Academic Festival Overture Op. 80, Critical Edition

Brahms composed this work during the summer of 1880 as a tribute to the University of Breslau for conferring on him an honorary doctorate of philosophy. Known for his love of irony, Brahms based this overture on a number of familiar melodies resulting in what he called a “very boisterous potpourri of student songs.” Included is Was kommt dort von der Höh (“What Comes There from on Yonder?”), sung by upperclassmen to chide first year students, a German patriotic song Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus (“We have built this stately house”), and a triumphant finale on Gaudeamus igitur (“So Let Us Rejoice”) that was commonly performed at many European high school and university graduation ceremonies.