Does anyone have access to a Girl Sount Song Book? I need to find the source of the song "O Beautful Banner" Brahms used it in his Academic Festival Overture just before the first iteration of Gaudeamus Igitur. Yes, I know this has nothing to do with Geo but I am a very curious lady, and I don't remember reading that Johannes Brahms was a Girl Scout. Thank you !

marcia, i found his overture here and it's downloadable--you have to be a member though (they have a free version and a pay version). hope it has what you're looking for. http://www.classicalarchives.com/brahms.html#brahms_orchestral

I am a member of that group and they have lovely stuff there. If you wonder what live performances by some of the most notable musicians in the Russian Republic are doing nowadays, listen to a few of the free options. I joined. And I do have that file, Wolfie. Thanks for finding it in case I had not yet gotten to it. I am looking for the source of part of that overture. Surely the Girl Scouts and Brahms had the same source. My question is what WAS it?!

you mean Brahms didn't write it? i thought he did. when i googled o beautiful banner all sorts of stuff came up with america the beautiful and the star spangled banner being among them. hmmmmmm.....

It was supposedly in a 1926 (?) church song book and adapted for girl scouts. That is where I first came upon the familiar music. We sang it as the flag was raised. I was a leader whose squad of girls picked a patch of poison ivy to camp in all week. We were lucky. Hardly anyone had any problems with it, but I was glad when the week was over. Both of the American uses of that music postdate Brahms. He wrote the Academic Festival Overture in honor of Heidelberg University who was bestowing an honorary degree upon him. They were unimpressed. He had written it using a collection of student songs - Gaudeamus Igitur being the most famous. He did not write the original music for it nor the one we know as O Beautful Banner. Still searching.

Ok I was incorrect (my sources were in college, actually) and here is the story of this overture: The Academic Festival Overture (German: Akademische Festouvert�re), Op. 80, was one of a pair of contrasting orchestral overtures (the other being the Tragic Overture, Op. 81) written by Johannes Brahms. Brahms composed the Academic Festival Overture during the summer of 1880 as a musical "thank you" to the University of Breslau, which had awarded him an honorary doctorate the previous year. Initially, Brahms had contented himself with sending a simple handwritten note of acknowledgment to the University, since he loathed the public fanfare of celebrity. However, the conductor Bernard Scholz, who had nominated him for the degree, convinced him that protocol required him to make a grander gesture of gratitude. The University expected nothing less than a musical offering from the composer. Brahms, who was known to be a curmudgeonly joker, filled his quota by creating a "very boisterous potpourri of student drinking songs", entitled the Academic Festival Overture. The work sparkles with some of the finest virtues of Brahms' musical technique. The inventive treatment of the tunes appropriated from the student ditties (which include "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus", "Fuchslieds", and most memorably in the triumphant finale, "Gaudeamus igitur") fully engages Brahms' sophisticated mastery of counterpoint and thematic development. Brahms manages to evoke ravishing euphoria without sacrificing his commitment to classical balance. The blend of orchestral colors is carefully planned and highlighted in the piece, which calls for one of the largest ensembles for any of his compositions: piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, timpani, bass drum, triangle, and strings. The Overture consists of four continuous sections: * Allegro (C minor) * Maestoso (C major) * Animato (E minor) * Maestoso (C major). The composer himself conducted the premiere at a special convocation held by the University on January 4, 1881, to the chagrin (and mischievous delight) of many of the academics in the audience. Due to its structural refinement, its lyrical warmth, as well as its excitement and humor, the work has remained a solid staple of today's concert-hall repertoire. A typical performance lasts around 10 minutes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Festival_Overture

Here is the answer The overture is in sonata form using the three university songs as the principal melodic material of this larger-than-usual orchestration. Brahms starts the piece in a minor mode which is consistent with his gruff personality. Trumpets then introduce the first melody�s theme, "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus" ("We had built a stately house"). The entire orchestra then develops this first theme to a climax. As soon as it starts to fade away, the violins state the second song, "Fuchslieds", by soaring above the trombone and passing the melody back and forth between the strings and woodwinds. The full orchestra presents the last and most famous song, "Gaudeamus Igitur" as a stately and jubilant finale to the Overture. http://www.gdyo.org/notes1002.htm

Even more here. There is yet another student song used as is told below. I did find "Wir Hatte..." and it is indeed the source of "O Beautiful Banner". Next I need to find the source of that music. Johannes Brahms received a thorough musical education in his youth, but his course of study never included a college experience. He studied composition and piano privately as a child-and it�s not every wunderkind who can claim to have played the bordellos of Hamburg by the age of thirteen. By 1850 Brahms had developed enough of a local reputation as a pianist to become the accompanist to the Hungarian violinist Eduard Rem�nyi. In 1853, Brahms and Rem�nyi embarked on a concert tour of Germany that eventually took them to Hanover, where Brahms attracted the attention of Joseph Joachim. At 21, Joachim was already established as a major violin virtuoso, and he was to become one of Brahms�s closest friends. When Brahms parted company from Rem�nyi shortly thereafter, it was to Joachim that he turned. He spent two months with Joachim in G�ttingen, auditing courses in philosophy and history at the University. This was Brahms�s closest approach to college life as a student. Thus it is not so shocking that in 1877, when Cambridge University wished to offer him an honorary doctorate, Brahms�s desire for academic recognition was outweighed by his distaste for travel and publicity. Two years later, Brahms accepted an honorary doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Breslau, and expressed his gratitude by composing the Academic Festival Overture -from the students� point of view! The overture is a medley of popular student drinking songs, but also functions as a mini-symphony. The overture opens with an accented eighth-note pattern and a bouncy melody, that will serve as a bridge between the sections. The first student song, �Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus,� is sung by the brass after a drum roll. We hear a vigorous presentation of the unifying melody again, but the texture lightens, and the strings begin a more flowing tune, �Der Landesvater.� Next, the bassoons introduce �Fuchsleid,� a silly hazing song. These elements are now developed and mixed together in what ust be Brahms�s closest musical approach to the �New German� school, typified by Richard Wagner. Finally, the brass shout out �Gaudeamus igitur� over wild running scales in the strings. http://www.columbiaorchestra.org/programnotes-021503.shtml

This will be the final comment - search it out if you have never heard it. For most of my life it has been a favorite. The cheerful, breezy, jovial "Academic" Overture was written by Brahms as a tribute of gratitude to the University of Breslau for conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It, as well as the "Tragic" Overture, was produced in that city in 1881 under his own leadership. The overture is clearly enough identified with the University functions and particularly with the students' "Commersbuch." The whole overture is built up on themes taken from that memorable collection of German student songs now famous the world over, and some of them pleasantly familiar to our own colleges. The overture begins at once with a stately theme announced in the strings pianissimo, horns, bassoons, and drums. After its development at some length, a subsidiary passage leads to the first of the student themes "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus" ("We had built a Stately House"), taken in the basses and woodwinds. After some transition passages reference is made to the opening theme, which finally leads to the second of the student songs, "Der Landesvater" ("The Country's Father"). This is followed by another subsidiary passage in the woodwinds, closing the first part of the overture. The next section begins with the "Fuchs Lied" ("Fox Song") sung by the bassoons and clarinets with full orchestral accompaniment, which is carried from one group of instruments to another in a jolly manner. In the closing section all the students songs return, but with different modes of development, and lead at the close to the "Gaudeamus igitur," given in full force by the orchestra and bringing the overture to a tr umphant conclusion. http://www.music-with-ease.com/brahms-academic-overture.html

Hi all Back again.... What interesting stories! I saw the reference to Heidelberg University which brought back fond memories of walking the streets of Heidelberg to visit the castle and also the numerous student beer halls. I could see how jolly compositions could come out of such jolly places. Mike r-c-i

Welocme back, Mike. Happy Beltane all (or Beltaine depending on whose website you are reading) I studied Maypoles all day... I actually know someone who has danced around one. I have always been too young so I was merely a watcher. It used to be very pretty and came with Daisy Chains and lovely young ladies dressed in gauzy gowns. Tell us about Heidelberg University, Mike. I am assuming you downed your quota of beer and sang the old songs. Wow how amazing to find you had been there. I could have saved myself a lot of hunting , but then where is the fun in that?! The part that blew my mind was being told (thank you �) that part had been the National Antehm of Micronesia. I, as a student of National Anthems, did not know that and was most eager to learn. I now have a version of it in my collection.

Dolphins Name Themselves With Whistles, Study Says James Owen for National Geographic News Dolphins give themselves "names"�distinctive whistles that they use to identify each other, new research shows. Scientists say it's the first time wild animals have been shown to call out their own names. What's more, the marine mammals can recognize individual names even when the sound is produced by an unfamiliar voice. Bottlenose dolphins appear to develop so-called signature whistles as infants. The idea that they use these whistles to identify each other was first proposed in 1991 after individuals were heard to make their own unique sounds. "The challenge was to show experimentally that the animals can use these independent voice features as signature whistles," said Vincent Janik of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Janik is the lead author of a study on the dolphin whistles to be published tomorrow in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He says the idea that dolphins use names "was fairly hypothetical, and some researchers regarded it as not possible." Listening Dolphins The research focused on wild bottlenose dolphins living in Sarasota Bay, Florida. Acoustic recordings have been made of most of these dolphins, which have been studied for more than 30 years. For the new study each dolphin's signature whistle was isolated from the recordings and then played back to the animals through underwater loudspeakers. The team found that the listening dolphins responded strongly to recordings of the names of their relatives and close group members but largely ignored those of other dolphins. Janik says the recordings were synthesized electronically to rule out the possibility that the dolphins recognized each other simply by the sound of their voices. "It's the equivalent of a computerized voice, where you can't tell who is speaking by the voice alone," he said. The study team says whistles that identify an individual would be especially useful to bottlenose dolphins, because they live in large groups and have complex social interactions. "Group changes are incredibly dynamic, and you need a way of knowing exactly who's around you," Janik said. "Dolphins often prefer to spend time with particular individuals." But living in the murky ocean makes it hard to hook up with your dolphin buddies. "Finding each other isn't so easy in marine environments, because visibility is very poor�maybe just a couple of meters," Janik said. "Instead of looking around, they really need some other obvious and reliable system to find another animal." The researchers suggest the dolphins use acoustic communication and signature whistles to locate and identify individual animals. "You really have to have something more than a voice. You need something that's as different as a name," Janik said. Customized Whistles The ability to develop individually distinctive calls requires vocal learning, a relatively rare skill that's seen in humans, dolphins, elephants, and a few other animals including certain birds. Bottlenose dolphins are among the most versatile vocal learners and show cognitive abilities similar to those of primates. The study team says young dolphins appear to create their own signature whistles from those of adult dolphins. "They are listening to a lot of other whistles in the environment, then take parts of some that they've heard and put them together as a new one," Janik said. Other researchers, however, have argued that dolphins don't have signature whistles. In 2001 Brenda McCowan of the University of California, Davis, and Diana Reiss of the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn published a study suggesting that bottlenose dolphins don't use individual names but rather a shared contact call. Their research was based on captive dolphins, which, Janik says, wouldn't have the same difficulties wild dolphins have with staying in touch. "They don't live in the kind of complex environment that wild dolphins inhabit," he said. "They are in relatively small environs, in very clear water, and can see each other all the time." Janik says that bottlenose dolphins may turn out to be just the first of various animals that use their own names. Researchers have identified what could be signature whistles in other dolphin species, including spotted, white-sided, and dusky dolphins. Some birds possibly also use names to communicate with each other, Janik adds. "The one group of birds where that's possible is parrots," he said. "Parrots have a very similar social structure to dolphins, and it seems they may also have a similar [naming] system." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/060508_dolphins_2.html

Polar Bear-Grizzly Hybrid Discovered John Roach May 11, 2006�DNA analysis has confirmed that a bear shot in the Canadian Arctic last month is a half-polar bear, half-grizzly hybrid. While the two bear species have interbred in zoos, this is the first evidence of a wild polar bear-grizzly offspring. Jim Martell (pictured at left), a 65-year-old hunter from Idaho, shot the bear April 16 on the southern tip of Banks Island (see Northwest Territories map), the CanWest News Service reports. Wildlife officials seized the bear after noticing its white fur was interspersed with brown patches. It also had long claws, a concave facial profile, and a humped back, which are characteristic of a grizzly. Now the genetic tests have confirmed that the hybrid's father was a grizzly and its mother was a polar bear. "I don't think anyone expected it to actually happen in the wild," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear expert with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton. Polar bears and grizzlies require an extended mating ritual to reproduce, Stirling said. Both live by themselves in large, open habitats. To prevent wasting their eggs, females ovulate only after spending several days with a male, Stirling explained. "Then they mate several times over several days." In other words, the mating between the polar bear and grizzly was more than a chance encounter. "That's what makes it quite interesting," he added. Stirling says the hybrid has no official name, though locals have taken to calling it a "pizzly" and a "grolar bear." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/bear-hybrid-photo.html

It's that time of the year again. Yep. It's Marcia's birthday. Happy Birthday Marcia!

Wow. Happy Birthday Marci! Hope you have a wonderful time.

Ditto!!! Happy Birthday!!!

I'm such a dork, sorry, twin, didn't mean to forget (started a new job but that's just a lousy excuse!). HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! *HUGS*

Happy Birthday Marcia! From quasi-present Mike

Thank you guys !!! I spent that weekend celebrating at Beale AFB air show and watched a U2 climb from ground to the edge of space in less than 30 minutes. There is no way to see it way up there so it dispensed smoke/powder to make trails which at such altitude just looked like dashes - very tiny like the sky had been perforated. If anyone wants to see real Americans, go to one of these air shows. They are full of upbeat clean tidy people who love this country as I do. We are America. The politicans and news people are not but they get all the attention. Thanks again for the good wishes.

Howdy again That had to be real cool. Next best would be to see an SR-71 Mike r-c-i

Bob's hotrodding mikes for the new ICOM 7000 series and selling them on ebay. Doing a pretty brisk little business. I've been on hf some days at 10 am CST on 7270. Catch me there sometime.

Hi all Well, Ive sure been remiss in dropping in - school, work, and home foolishness have kept me amused/annoyed. Anyway, decided to log in and see if there were any geo activities lately. Also, Terry, tried to email you a while back and bounced so if you coule email me, then I have an email path to work from. In my recent Geo-activity, went to the local gem/jewelry show - there were a couple of vendors selling different rock samples so picked up some galena (to make a crystal radio) and a small sample of the Nantan meteorite. So, the rock collection slowly moves forward.... 73 de Mike r-c-i

Cool on the crystal rig, where'd you get the plans?

Oh Mike I did see the SR-71 at Beale AFB. The men who guard her are deadly serious about your not getting too close. However, it is better viewed from a small distance. It is hugs, it is black (thus the name "Blackbird") and it looks like flying death. I am still waiting to see my first stealth machine flyover. I hear that is truly exciting. Oh, sorry for my absence. I have been editing two books and three manuscripts which will be pivotal in southeastern archaeology. Remember, you heard it here!

Happy New Year

Hi Marci and Geoites Was very happy to see your post as it is just too quiet around here. Good luck with your publishing projects! Never seen a stealth flyover but I have seen the F117 prototype at Dayton (WP AFB, not the hamfest...). Anyway, school marches on and been busy learning the ins and outs of routers and other network gadgets. 10.1.1.1 Mike r-c-i

Let us know when you become a graduate and we will all celebrate, Mike *GASP* does anyone remember what topic I was writing in when describing visiting a volcanic eruption? I have a new installment and I can't find it! Thank you.

http://spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/Geo/77

Okay, this the first full day of spring in the northern hemisphere -- but I am a little late in wishing everyone a Happy Vernal or Autumnal Equinox! Happy Sprng or Happy Fall -- depending on where you live.

Happy Spring! Also very late this year.

It's here!!! Today is the day of which is the birthday of the legendary Geonymph, Marcia. Happy Birthday, Marcia!!!

And a belated one from me, too!!!

Hi all Happy Birthday Marci! Also happy solstice as that is around the corner! 73 de Mike r-c-i

Happy Summer Soltice! To all those Geo-ites south of the equator -- Happy Winter Soltice!

Happy Solstice!

Happy "It's Tooo HOT in Kentucky!" We need rain. Thank you all for keeping the home fires burning and for your kind wishes. If you only knew how old I really am... In any case I will soon be the youngest grandmother on the planet with a whole new human life to educate about stars and rocks and volcanoes and other such good things. Happy Solstice too ! Would that it were autuman equnox however. The books continue to be researched. I am newly back from Missouri and environs for one book and for the other we are likely to head toward Tennessee. I love doing this part. Writing it is just plain hard work. I am so lucky to be working with two of the best men in their fields who already know how to write.

I got an interesting email today from a man who is researching Madoc and his followers in the USA before Columbus. He somehow got the idea I did not believe in such stuff as they advocate and was not particularly happy about it. As Geo's archaeologist says, just present the evidence. I wish him well.

What great news, Marcia! Of course, you'll be the youngest grandmother on the planet. What a lucky baby to have you as a guide to the stars, and rocks, and volcanoes . . . and all the other good things.

To avoid leaving an interesting aside to serious research in limbo, Marcia -- our capable hostess -- was so kind as to share with me the email she referenced in Response 1037 (see above). I felt that it was both fitting and appropriate to respond to this person's remarks and for the benefit of Geo's readers I post my comments to him herein (see below). To better establish some background for this communication, I will make the proverbial long story short and note that as a matter of folklore it has long been maintained that Madoc, an ancient Welsh prince, established a major settlement at the Falls of the Ohio on the Ohio River at present day Louisville, Kentucky, in (according to the source you wish to believe) the 6th or 11th century AD. In common with a wart, this story seems to grow with each telling and within recent years some individuals have gone so far as to claim that: (1) Madoc's faithful followers (40,000 of them!) left behind numerous rock inscriptions (most of the "Kilroy was here" variety) th oughout the region; and (2) that King Arthur was among those who settled near Louisville with Prince Madoc. For those who enjoy fantasy and fairy tales, this story makes for an amusing evening's entertainment but unfortunately they unashamedly espouse this unfounded gibberish as firmly established fact. As a professional archaeologist who has worked in the Ohio Valley region for 30 years, I state without reservation that these claims have never been substantiated and are nothing but pure fabrication. For those seeking further substantive information on the numerous fallacies of this claim, I would refer them to the following journal article: Ball, Donald B. 2006 Scribbles, Scratches, and Ancient Writing: Pseudo-Historical Archaeology in the Ohio Valley Region. Ohio Valley Historical Archaeology 21:1-29. ***** Your recent email was forwarded to me on the premise that laughter is always the best medicine. I have read and examined in some detail the so-called historical and epigraphic "evidence" (using this term in its loosest possible sense) espoused by the reputed researchers you mentioned and am of the opinion that the greatest single fallacy in their reasoning is mistaking their misguided and delusional sincerity for fact. I find it of particular interest that within the 20th century well over 10,000 archaeological sites have been documented within the state of Kentucky alone and to the best of my knowledge not one of these has yielded any evidence of 5th century Welsh pottery, house types, community settlement, burial patterns, non-native faunal materials (e.g., sheep and horse remains), or any other tangible remains attributable to the presence of either Madoc or any of his countrymen in this region at that point in time. The epigraphic evidence they present is neither more nor less than a complete farce. It is strange that the so-called Coelbren rock inscriptions presented as "evidence" of an early Welsh presence in the greater Ohio Valley regions bear absolutely no resemblance to the letters of that alphabet as recorded in the writings of Iolo Morganwg dating to the early 19th century. It is sad to observe that some seemingly intelligent people unquestioningly accept these fanciful claims as historical fact. I would note that I have attended numerous state and regional archaeological conferences in the Ohio Valley region for going on 40 years and I have never seen either Alan Wilson or Baram Blackett present a scholarly paper at any of these meetings. In a similar vein, I fail to see that they have ever published even a single article in support of their claims in any reputable and peer reviewed scholarly journal in this region. This prompts me to ask, "What are they trying to hide?" From my perspective, it is abundantly obvious that they are all too aware that their claims will readily be exposed as nothing but unsupported gibberish. Should you have any substantive commentary to offer on this subject, feel free to contact me. Alternately, if you have only further rants, raves, and nonsensical blather to offer kindly do not waste my time. Such communications are not worthy of a response and they will be promptly deleted.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you ! Brilliant response from our most esteemed Archaeologist who is both a gentleman and a scholar. I suspect we will not hear from the original writer of the email though I wish he had brought his concerns to this forum.

Alas Cheryl, I taught that precious granddaughter's father all I know. He will be the chief descriptor but I have knitting needles he does not know how to use! Thank you for your kind thoughts. I can hardly wait for her to get here!

Allison Holly Born 1:32 am, 8/16/07 7 lbs, 5 oz 19" long

Suddenly, the Universe has been condensed into one small bundle.

Funny how that happens, huh? :-)

Funny stuff.

Wow, what wonderous and extraordinary things occur while I'm away. Marcia, enjoy marveling at the tiny new universe. Welcome Allison Holly!

Red-headed Neanderthals? DNA says yes: study CHICAGO (AFP) - Some of our cave-dwelling Neanderthal relatives probably had red hair and fair complexions, much like modern-day humans of Celtic origin, according to a study released Thursday. The finding comes from the first such analysis of DNA evidence taken from Neanderthal fossils recovered from El Sidron in northern Spain and Monti Lessini, Italy. An analysis of the DNA revealed the ancient hominids carried a mutation in the MC1R gene that codes for a protein involved in the production of melanin -- a substance that gives skin its color and also protects it against ultraviolet light. In modern humans, primarily of European descent, mutations in the MC1R gene are thought to be responsible for red hair and pale skin by dampening the activity of the protein. The mutation observed in the Neanderthal genes was different from the one documented in humans, but when scientists inserted the Neanderthal gene into cells in a test tube, it seemed to have the same effect on melatonin production as the modern human genes, according to the study published in Science. The genetic analysis doesn't seal the deal, but since the fossil record of Neanderthals does not include any samples of skin or hair, it is the best guide available, said Michael Hofreiter, a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig, Germany. Hofreiter said the number of red-headed Neanderthals was probably pretty small, possibly just one percent of the population and might have popped up in any part of Europe or Asia that the ancient hominids had settled. The news did not come as a surprise to one leading scholar of Neanderthal evolution and biology. "The stereotype of primitive peoples is that they are dark skinned, but some paleontologists have been speculating for 20 years that some Neanderthals must have been pale skinned because they lived in northern Europe," said Erik Trinkaus, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. "Light skin is adaptive at higher altitudes because it allows more UVB radiation to penetrate the skin and that promotes Vitamin D synthesis." Neanderthals, whose ancestors diverged from that of modern humans about 300,000 years ago, colonized Europe and parts of Asia, dominating Europe until about 30,000 years ago. The study suggests that the genes that confer pale skin and red hair evolved separately in humans and our closest extinct relatives. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071025/sc_afp/scienceneanderthalsus

I love this article about the red haired Neanderthal. I dated a flaming redhead in college and now he is a great and good friend. IN no way was he ever considered Neanderthal but a lot of the other men I dated qualified. Thanks for posting it. Wonderful! ( I also had red hair as a young child.)

I saw the Geico Caveman at SXSW. He was extremely popular with all the women there and was surrounded by admirers most of the time, all female.