"Gaudeamus igitur" Traditional European, attrib. German • Washington Men's Camerata

Описание: The traditional graduation hymn “Gaudeamus igitur” (Latin for “So Let Us Rejoice”), touches on the profound sentiment of carpe diem (seize the day). Also known as "De brevitate vitae" ("On the Shortness of Life"), the Latin text may date back to the 1200s and was adapted, closest to the form in this performance, by German writers and composers in the 1700s. Artistic Director Scott Tucker conducting Washington Men's Camerata, May 31, 2025 in DC.

LATIN TEXT
Gaudeamus igitur,
Juvenes dum sumus!
Post Jucundam juventutem
Post molestam senectutem
Nos habebit humus.

Ubi sunt, qui ante nos
In mundo fuere?
Transeas ad superos,
Abeas ad infernos,
Quos si vis videre.

Vita nostra brevis est,
Brevi finietur,
Venit mors velociter,
Rapit nos atrociter,
Nemini parcetur.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Let us rejoice while we are young,
After a pleasant youth,
After a troublesome old age,
the earth will have us.

Where are they who, before us, were in the world?
Go to heaven,
into hell,
if you wish to see them.

Our life is brief,
soon it will end.
Death comes quickly,
snatches us cruelly.
Nobody is spared.

Washington Men's Camerata, directed by Scott Tucker, is DC's premier chorus performing, promoting, and preserving diverse tenor and bass choral music and camaraderie since 1984. The Camerata has performed at The Kennedy Center, The White House, Smithsonian institutions, National Gallery of Art, Wolf Trap, Strathmore, and across the region; alongside National Symphony Orchestra, The U.S. Army Chorus, Washington Symphonic Brass, Mark Morris Dance Group, Symphony Orchestra of Northern Virginia, and on NPR, PBS, and SiriusXM. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Camerata has recorded six albums and regularly commissions and premieres pieces, part of a national lending library of sheet music, The Demetrius Project, with over 200,000 scores of 3,300 works. https://www.camerata.com/