ECMC is thrilled to be singing De Brevitatae Vitae by Kyle Randall, our composer-in-residence, on our Free and Easy Concert on May 7 and 8, 2016. You can buy your tickets by clicking on this link. Buy your tickets early and often!! You will receive a 15% discount on tickets purchased by April 23, 2016.
More commonly known as Gaudeamus Igitur, this medieval text is well known in many universities as a celebration of students, teachers, and all academia. It has long served as a staple of academic life, but the only popular setting of the text today is a hymn that is sung at major academic gatherings, such as college graduation ceremonies. Most who know the hymn understand that it is celebratory, which one could guess from the jolly austerity of the hymn music, but few still look into the meaning of the text itself. The Latin text is not in fact titled Gaudeamus Igitur (Let us rejoice), but De brevitatae vitae, or "On the shortness of life”. True to the tone of many medieval texts, it celebrates life and academia with a sharp edge: reminding us that we all will die soon enough, so we should rejoice now.
This setting of the text honors its mixture of darkness and light—the celebration of life in the face of death—in a way that calls to mind the primal elegance of the medieval scholars who wrote it.
Here is a side-by-side translation of the piece:
Let us rejoice, therefore,
While we are young.
After a pleasant youth
After a troubling old age
The earth will have us.
Who are they who, before us
Were in the world?
Go to the heavens
Cross over into hell
If you wish to see them.
Our life is brief
Soon it will end.
Death comes quickly
Snatches us cruelly
To nobody shall it be spared.
Long live the academy!
Long live the professors!
Long live each student;
Long live the whole fraternity;
Forever may they flourish!
Long live all girls,
Easy [and] beautiful!
Long live [mature] women too,
Tender, lovable,
Good, [and] hard-working.
Long live the state as well,
And they who rule it!
Long live our city,
And those who protect us here!
Let sadness perish!
Let haters perish!
Let the devil perish,
And also the opponents of fraterni
And their mockers too!
What a gathering
Of academics is there today?
From far away they gathered
Immediately they advanced
Into the public forum.
Long live our fellowship
Long live the students;
May truth alone thrive
May brotherhood flourish
Gaudeamus igitur
Iuvenes dum sumus.
Post iucundam iuventutem
Post molestam senectutem
Nos habebit humus.
Ubi sunt qui ante nos
In mundo fuere?
Vadite ad superos
Transite in inferos
Hos si vis videre.
Vita nostra brevis est
Brevi finietur.
Venit mors velociter
Rapit nos atrociter
Nemini parcetur.
Vivat academia!
Vivant professors!
Vivat membrum quodlibet;
Vivant membra quaelibet;
Semper sint in flores.
Vivant omnes virgines
Faciles, formosae.
Vivant et mulieres
Tenerae, amabiles,
Bonae, laboriosae.
Vivat et res publica
Et qui illam regit.
Vivat nostra civitas
Et quae nos hic protegit.
Pereat tristitia!
Pereant osores!
Pereat diabolus,
Quivis antiburschius
Atquae irrisores!
Quis confluxus hodie
Academicorum?
E longinquo convenerunt,
Protinusque successerunt
In commune forum.
Vivat nostra societas,
Vivant sudiosi;
Crescat una veritas
Floreat fraternitas
As a composer, Kyle Randall strives for vividness and sincerity. His music often evokes strong notions of color, motion, and space, and he uses these to create compelling pieces that exist in their own worlds, each with their own character and a strong sense of place. Listeners have commented on Kyle's directness and clarity of expression, and appreciate his readiness to draw on the past as well as the present in his writing, choosing to draw on whichever influences a piece may call for and writing music tailored for anyone who might decide to listen.
Kyle's work has been performed across the country and internationally, from such renowned venues as Carnegie Hal to La Schola Cantorum in Paris, the Oregon Bach Festival, and Harvard's Memorial Hall. He has worked with prominent groups such as Choral Chameleon and the Harvard Glee Club, as well as influential conductors including Matthew Oltman, Craig Hella Johnson, and Vince Peterson. Kyle has also been awarded the Francis Boott Prize for choral composition from Harvard, and is currently a finalist for the prestigious American Prize in composition for the “Kyrie” of his recent “New Gothic Mass”.
Kyle has received degrees in music from Harvard University (BA) and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (MM), and has studied composition with David Garner, Lennie Moore, David Conte, Austin Wintory, Phillip Lasser, and Chaya Czernowin. He is currently composer-in-residence with the Empire City Men's Chorus, and has completed three new pieces for them over the course of this year. Visit Kyle's website for more information and to listen to some of his compositions.
As always, be sure to click on the links throughout this post.