MANAGEMENT Dr. Olivier von Winterstein Intendant Prof. Dr. Dieter Hartwig Artistic Manager Matthias Albert Stage Manager ORCHESTRA BOARD Volker Karp Klaus Koppe Günther Naumann ICM ARTISTS TOURING DIVISION Byron Gustafson Senior Vice President and Director Leonard Stein General Manager Joseph Sutovsky Tour Manager Gerald Breault Stage Manager The repertoire the Dresden Philharmonie performs in this concert is exclusively devoted to music in the Germanic tradition and features works by two of the “3Bs”—Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. “ACADEMIC FESTIVAL” OVERTURE, OP. 80 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) The choice of this work seems appropriate for a concert hall on a university campus. Brahms wrote the overture as a gesture of thanks to the University of Breslau for conferring on him an honorary Ph.D. It was written in the Summer of 1880 and premiered January 4,1881, at the university with Dr. Brahms conducting. The overture is built on four Student songs, one of which is heard on United States College campuses during commencement exercises, the “Gaudeamus igitur." In this work, Brahms uses the largest orchestral group in his entire output—triangles, cymbals, bass, drum, and more. The music combines jollity with pomp and circumstance. Brahms referred to the piece as “a potpourri of Student songs ä la Suppe.” (Suppe wrote the “Light Cavalry” and “Poet and Peasant” overtures.) Brahms weaves the German Student songs into his grand, Symphonie scheme with masterly skill. The overture opens pianissimovj'wh the strings, and the theme is taken up by the homs and bassoons. After expanding on this musical material, Brahms leads into the first of the Student songs, given out by the basses and woodwinds, and then progresses to the other songs. The hymn-like “Gaudeamus igitur” gets special treatment with spectacular orchestral writing, full of majestic sonorities that end in a triumphant blaze of color. The next two works share some commonalities. In his letter of August 26, 1804, to the Publishing house Breitkopf and Haertel, Beethoven offered both works for publication. He writes, “I have just now several works.... I teil you straight off what I can give you: my oratorio