Gaudeamus igitur

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 literal, and another by J. Mark Sugars, 1997). 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.

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 hymn 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 Redoutensaal (Students Ball) on 24 February 1862.

The hymn 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.

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

In popular culture

The melody is woven through the soundtrack of Harold Lloyd's silent film The Freshman (1925).

The song is sung in the James Stewart movie The Mortal Storm (1940).

It was sung in Howard Hawks' Ball of Fire (1941) 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 (1948), 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 (Ochazuke no Aji), 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, (1954), starring Edmund Purdom and Ann Blyth.

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" (1964), when Bass receives his diploma.

In the film Lord Love a Duck (1966), a fairly modern vocal version is sung during graduation ceremonies.

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" (2002). 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 Feuten: Het Feestje, 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.

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-[hic!]-itur", the interruption being an intoxicated hiccup.

In the middle section of the Allan Sherman song "Dropouts March" (on the album Allan in Wonderland (1964)), 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. (Coral 62317)