the front seats at the performance, and the composer conducted his work, which may be described as a skilfully made pot-pourri or fantasia on students' songs. Brahms was not a university man, but he had known with Joachim the joyous life of students at Göttingen,—at the university made famous by Canning's poem: Whene'er with haggard eyes I view This dungeon that I'm rotting in, I think of those companions true Who studied with me at the U-niversity of Göttingenniversity of Göttingen; the university satirized so bitterly by Heine. Brahms wrote to Bernhard Scholz that the title "Academic” did not please him. Scholz suggested that it was "cursedly academic and boresome," and suggested "Viadrina," for that was the poetical name of the Breslau University. Brahms spoke flippantly of this overture in the fall of 1880 to Max Kalbeck. He described it as a "very jolly potpourri on students' songs à la Suppé," and, when Kalbeck asked him ironically if he had used the "Foxsong," he answered contentedly, "Yes, indeed." Kalbeck was startled, and said he could not think of such academic homage to the "leathery Herr Rektor," whereupon Brahms duly replied, "That is also wholly unnecessary." The first of the student songs to be introduced is Binzer's "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus": "We had built a stately house, and trusted in God therein through bad weather, storm, and horror." The first measures are given out by the trumpets with a peculiarly stately effect. The melody of "Der Landesvater"† is given to the second violins. And then for the first time is there any deliberate attempt to portray the jollity of university life. The "Fuchslied" ***"Wir hatten gebauet." The verses of A. Binzer, to an old tune, were sung for the first time at Jena, November 19, 1819, on the occasion of the dissolution of the Burschenshaft, the German students' association founded in 1815 for patriotic purposes. "Der Landesvater" is a student song of the eighteenth century. It was published about 1750. "Was kommt dort" is a student song as old as the beginning of the eighteenth century. BACK BAY BRANCH STATE STREET TRUST CO. Corner MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE and BOYLSTON STREET There are Safe Deposit Vaults and Storage Vaults MAIN OFFICE, 33 STATE STREET (Freshman Song), "Was kommt dort von der Höh'," is introduced suddenly by two bassoons accompanied by 'celli and violas pizzicati. There are hearers undoubtedly who remember the singing of this song in Longfellow's "Hyperion"; how the Freshman entered the Kneipe, and was asked with ironical courtesy concerning the health of the leathery Herr Papa who reads in Cicero. Similar impertinent questions were asked concerning the "Frau Mama" and the "Mamsell Soeur"; and then the struggle of the Freshman with the first pipe of tobacco was described in song. 'Gaudeamus igitur,' "* the melody that is familiar to students of all lands, serves as the finale. The overture is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, double-bassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, bass tuba, a set of three kettledrums, bass drums, cymbals, triangle, strings. The overture was played for the first time in Boston by Theodore Thomas's Orchestra, October 14, 1881. It has been played at concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston, November 18, 1882, January 21, 1888, March 9, 1889, November 4, 1893, October 16, 1897, December 23, 1898, February 9, 1901, October 19, 1902, December 5, 1903, December 24, 1910, October 14, 1911, January 4, 1913. Bernhard Scholz was called to Breslau in 1871 to conduct the Orchestra Society concerts of that city. For some time previous a friend and admirer of Brahms, he now produced the latter's orchestral works as they appeared, with a few exceptions. Breslau also became acquainted with Brahms's chamber music, and in 1874 and in 1876 the composer played his first pianoforte concerto there. When the University of Breslau in 1880 offered Brahms the honorary degree of doctor, he composed, according to Miss Florence May, three "Academic" overtures, but the one that we know was the one chosen by Brahms for performance and preservation. The "Tragic" overture and the Second Symphony were also on the programme. "The newlymade Doctor of Philosophy was received with all the honor and enthusiasm befitting the occasion and his work." He gave a concert of chamber music at Breslau two days afterward, when he played Schumann's Fantasia, Op. 17, his two Rhapsodies, and the pianoforte part of his Horn Trio. "In the Academic overture," says Miss May, "the sociable spirit reappears which had prompted the boy of fourteen to compose an A B C part-song for his seniors, the village schoolmasters in and around Winsen. Now the renowned master of forty-seven seeks to identify himself with the youthful spirits of the university with which he has become associated, by taking, for principal themes of his overture, student melodies loved by him from their association with the early Göttingen years of happy companionship with Joachim, with Grimm, with Meysenburg, and others." Mr. Apthorp's analysis made for earlier performances of this overture at Symphony concerts in Boston is as follows: "It [the overture] *There are many singular legends concerning the origin of "Gaudeamus igitur," but there seems to be no authentic appearance of the song, as it is now known, before the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the song was popular at Jena and Leipsic. McDONALD-WEBER CO. 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A first subsidiary in the dominant, G major, leads to an episode on Friedrich Silcher's 'Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus,' *which is given out in C major by the brass instruments and wood-wind; the fine, stately effect of the high trumpets in this passage is peculiarly noteworthy. This episode is followed by some transitional passagework on a new theme in C major, leading to a reminiscence of the first theme. The second theme, which might be called a new and somewhat modified version of the first, now enters in C major, and is extendedly developed in the strings and wood-wind. A second subsidiary follows at first in E major, then in G major, and a very short conclusionpassage in triplets in the wood-wind brings the first part of the overture to a close. "The long and elaborate free fantasia begins with an episode on the Fuchs-Lied, 'Was kommt da von der Höh'?' in the bassoons, clarinets, and full orchestra. "The third part begins irregularly with the first subsidiary in the key of the subdominant, F minor, the regular return of the first theme at the beginning of the part being omitted. After this the third part is developed very much on the lines of the first, with a somewhat greater elaboration of the 'Wir hatten gebauet' episode (still in the tonic, C major), and some few other changes in detail. The coda runs wholly on 'Gaudeamus igitur,' which is given out fortissimo in C major by the full orchestra, with rushing contrapuntal figuration in the strings.' * Friedrich Silcher was born at Schnaith, in Würtemberg, on June 27, 1789, and died at Tübingen on August 26, 1860. He studied music under his father, and later under Auberlen, who was organist at Fellbach, near Stuttgart. He lived for a while at Schorndorf and Ludwigsburg, and then moved to Stuttgart, where he supported himself by teaching music. In 1817 he was appointed Music Director at the University of Tübingen, where he received the honorary degree of Doctor in 1852. He wrote many vocal works, and was especially noteworthy as one of the foremost promoters of the German Volkslied. His "Sammlung deutscher Volkslieder" is a classic. Among his best-known songs are the familiar "Loreley" ("Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten "), "Aennchen von Tharau," "Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz," and "Wir hatten gebauet." This latter is a sort of students' hymn, sung in German universities very much in the same spirit that "Integer vitae" (Christian Gottlieb Fleming's "Lobet den Vater") is in ours. The words are: Wir hatten gebauet Ein stattliches Haus, Durch Wetter, Sturm, und Graus. (We had built a stately house, and trusted in God therein through ill weather, storm, and horror.)—W. F. A. Mrs. J. M. 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