Concert Band Grade: 1

Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture was composed in the summer of 1880 for the conferment of his own honorary doctorate of philosophy degree by Breslau University. The piece is based on a number of student songs that would have been familiar to those in attendance at the time. The themes derived from four of those songs have been used in this arrangement for young band and are presented in the same order in which they appear in Brahms’s original. Careful attention to the written dynamics and articulations will aid your students in creating an authentic performance of this transcription. A perfect choice for young bands at festival.