Gaudeamus igitur
"De Brevitate Vitae", more commonly known as "Gaudeamus Igitur" or just "Gaudeamus", is a popular academic commercium song in many European countries, mainly sung or performed at university and high-school 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 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 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 ; however, this differs considerably from the modern text. The current Latin lyrics with a German translation were published by Halle in 1781 in Studentenlieder written by Christian Wilhelm Kindleben, who admitted to making important changes to the text.Below is Kindleben's 1781 Latin version, with two translations to English. The pseudo-Latin word antiburschius refers to opponents of the 19th-century politically active German student fraternities. The letter 'j' used in some modern transcriptions does not occur in classical Latin.
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.| Latin | English | English |
Gaudeamus igitur Iuvenes dum sumus. Post iucundam iuventutem Post molestam senectutem Nos habebit humus. | Let us rejoice, therefore, While we are young. After a pleasant youth After a troubling old age The earth will have us. | While we're young, let us rejoice, Singing out in gleeful tones; After youth's delightful frolic, And old age, Earth will cover our bones. |
Ubi sunt qui ante nos In mundo fuere? Vadite ad superos Transite in inferos Ubi iam fuere. | Where are they who, before us, Were in the world? Go to the heavens Cross over into hell Where they went through already. | Where are those who trod this globe In the years before us? They in hellish fires below, Or in Heaven's kindly glow, Swell th' eternal chorus. |
Vita nostra brevis est Brevi finietur. Venit mors velociter Rapit nos atrociter Nemini parcetur. | Our life is brief Soon it will end. Death comes quickly Snatches us cruelly To nobody shall it be spared. | Life is short and all too soon We emit our final gasp; Death ere long is on our back; Terrible is his attack; None escapes his dread grasp. |
Vivat academia! Vivant professores! Vivat membrum quodlibet; Vivant membra quaelibet; Semper sint in flore. | Long live the academy! Long live the professors! Long live each student; Long live the whole fraternity; For ever may they flourish! | Long live our academy, Teachers whom we cherish; Long live all the graduates, And the undergraduates; Ever may they flourish. |
Vivant omnes virgines Faciles, formosae. Vivant et mulieres Tenerae, amabiles, Bonae, laboriosae. | Long live all girls, Easy beautiful! Long live women too, Tender, lovable, Good, hard-working. | Long live all the maidens fair, Easy-going, pretty; Long live all good ladies who Are tender and so friendly to Students in this city. |
Vivat et res publica et qui illam regit. Vivat nostra civitas, Maecenatum caritas Quae nos hic protegit. | Long live the state as well And he who rules it! Long live our city the charity of benefactors Which protects us here! | Long live our Republic and The gentlefolk who lead us; May the ones who hold the purse Be always ready to disburse Funds required to feed us. |
Pereat tristitia, Pereant osores. Pereat diabolus, Quivis antiburschius Atque irrisores. | May sadness perish! May haters perish! May the devil perish! And also the opponents of the fraternities And their mockers, too! | Down with sadness, down with gloom, Down with all who hate us; Down with those who criticize, Look with envy in their eyes, Scoff, mock and berate us. |
Quis confluxus hodie Academicorum? E longinquo convenerunt, Protinusque successerunt In commune forum. | What a gathering of academics is there today? From far away they gathered, Immediately they advanced Into the public forum | Why has such a multitude Come here during winter break? Despite distance, despite weather, They have gathered here together For Philology's sake! |
Vivat nostra societas, Vivant studiosi; Crescat una veritas Floreat fraternitas Patriae prosperitas. | Long live our fellowship, Long live the students; May truth alone thrive May brotherhood flourish the prosperity of the country. | Long live our society, Scholars wise and learned; May truth and sincerity Nourish our fraternity And our land's prosperity. |
Alma Mater floreat, Quae nos educavit; Caros et commilitones, Dissitas in regiones Sparsos, congregavit | May our Alma Mater flourish, Which has taught us; Dear ones and comrades, the scattered into places Various, she congregated. | May our Alma Mater thrive, A font of education; Friends and colleagues, where'er they are, Whether near or from afar, Heed her invitation. |
Music
The first appearance in print of the present melody was in Lieder für Freunde der Geselligen Freude, 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", 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 the Gaudeamus igitur—Humoreske.
Modern version is rearrangement for male chorus with piano accompaniment, by Peter Tchaikovsky .
Languages in which the anthem was performed at the Universiade
!Universiade!!City!!Language performed!!NotesIn popular culture
- The melody is woven through the soundtrack of Harold Lloyd's silent film The Freshman.
- It can be heard in the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, during part of the sequence where the Wizard presents awards to each of Dorothy's companions.
- The song is sung in the James Stewart movie The Mortal Storm.
- It was sung in Howard Hawks' Ball of Fire by a number of academics at a party where they are celebrating the upcoming nuptials of a professor played by Gary Cooper.
- It is sung in the remake of Ball of Fire, A Song Is Born, starring Danny Kaye.
- It is performed as the musical theme of the classic 1951 Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film People Will Talk, delightfully "conducted" by Cary Grant - actually under Alfred Newman's baton. This film is a remake of the German Frauenarzt Dr. Praetorius, in which actor/director Curt Goetz performs that scene with the same music in the film based on his own play and screenplay.
- In Yasujirō Ozu’s 1952 film The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, the first verse is sung in a Tokyo bar by a young man who has just graduated and is about to embark on his working life.
- The song is sung on several occasions during the film The Student Prince,, starring Edmund Purdom and Ann Blyth.
- The music is played at the end of the Perry Mason TV episode "The Case of the Brazen Request," during Perry's characteristic "wrap up" of the case.
- Peter Alexander sings this song in a medley in the 1963 film Der Musterknabe.
- An arrangement of the tune is played on The Andy Griffith Show episode "The Education of Ernest T. Bass", when Bass receives his diploma.
- In the film Lord Love a Duck, a fairly modern vocal version is sung during graduation ceremonies.
- The Happy Days episode "Fonzie Drops In" plays the melody when the character Fonzie goes back to high school.
- It is alluded to in the Terry Pratchett novel Equal Rites, where the character Treatle misquotes it: "Alma mater, gaudy armours eagle tour and so on."
- A modified version can be heard in some episodes of the Saturday-morning cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
- The melody also served as the music of the fictional school, Greenleaf High anthem, 'Hail To Thee O Greenleaf High' in the 1997 film In and Out.
- The song is sung in Lars von Trier's 1997 Danish TV mini-series Riget II, by a group of medical students as a sign of appreciation to their pathology teacher Professor Bondo, as a response to the latter having let a malign sarcoma be transplanted into his own bowels.
- An excerpt of the song was performed by cast members of the television series The West Wing during the episode entitled "Debate Camp". Afterward, one character is asked by another what the lyrics mean, and he gives a standard English translation of the first verse.
- A sped-up orchestral version of the song plays shortly during a scene of the characters chasing a pet pig in the 2013 film Monsters University.
- In the 2013 Dutch film ', the song is sung to uplift spirits, after a party of the fictional student society HSV Mercurius is shut down by riot police. Singing the song makes them feel proud to be students, as they stand their ground against the riot police.
- Yale University alumna Jodie Foster included a slightly sped-up version of the Yale Glee Club's 1991 a cappella recording of the song, arranged and conducted by legendary YGC Director Fenno Heath, in her 1991 film Little Man Tate. She wished to express "the grandeur of the college experience" on exceptionally-gifted-child character Fred Tate's first day at university.
- The song's title is featured in several section headings in Infinite Jest.
- This song is sung at Smith College's convocation ceremony in Northampton, Massachusetts at the start of every academic year. It is known as Smith's anthem.
- "Gaudeamus Igitur" is a short story by Shirley Jackson that appears in Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writing. '
Recordings
- This song is referenced in satirist Tom Lehrer's song "Bright College Days" in his 1959 self-published album More of Tom Lehrer and in his more-recent album An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer, in the line "Turn on the spigot, pour the beer and swig it, and gaudeamus ig-it--itur", the interruption being an intoxicated hiccup.
- In the middle section of the Allan Sherman song "Dropouts March", an Alma Mater Chorus sings the following humorous line set to the melody: "Ignoramus there you are; Sitting in your hopped-up car; And your brains ain't up to par; And your ears stick out too far".
- This song is on the full version of Melanie's "Stop I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore" from 1971.
- The song is referenced in the Godley & Creme song "Punchbag" from their L album.
- A performance of the first, most characteristic strophe was recorded in the mid-20th century by the Italian-American tenor Mario Lanza, and is still available under the title "Gaudeamus Igitur".
- A doo wop version is available by the Escorts, from 1962, perhaps the only doo wop song sung in Latin.