Einigkeit und Recht and *Facepalm*
Today, we had Convocation, which is a festive set of inspirational speeches, and "light refreshments," which in this case meant standing in line for either water or lemonade. This year, they trimmed the speeches, and added the feature of having all the first-year students split up into small(ish) groups and be talked at have a conversation with a member of the faculty, with the goal of getting everybody excited about the liberal arts and what it can do for them. Yay. Excellent opportunity for silly-hat-wearing, etc.
Of course, this meant that there was a performance of the alma mater. Which I had managed to forget is, in fact, college-specific lyrics set to Franz Joseph Haydn's Movement II (Poco adagio) of Opus 76 No. 3.
Which most people probably know as this... or more likely this*, because that's the one that, um, turns up in all the movies and all that.
So that caused several moments of "Buh... wait, what?," trying very hard not to giggle, and pondering how many students might be having the same problem.
It really doesn't help that my own undergraduate alma mater, at least for the university as a whole** was college-specific lyrics set to the old Civil War ballad Aura Lea...
...which most people probably know as ...this
It is amazing that I managed to keep a straight face (mostly) for four years...
*Technically, the first one is the third verse of the second one, because using the whole piece became extremely problematic after the war, even though the original context was nineteenth-century unification, not twentieth-century conquest.. and of course the Haydn piece was originally set to lyrics praising Emperor Franz of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and was the Austrian national hymn until the abolition of the monarchy in 1918.
** Which was the same for the men's college-- the women's college had our own alma mater, thank you very much, composed by an alumna back in the 1920s. Which is cool enough to squash almost all "Hey, how come the song for the MEN'S college is the song for the university as a whole?" annoyance.
Of course, this meant that there was a performance of the alma mater. Which I had managed to forget is, in fact, college-specific lyrics set to Franz Joseph Haydn's Movement II (Poco adagio) of Opus 76 No. 3.
Which most people probably know as this... or more likely this*, because that's the one that, um, turns up in all the movies and all that.
So that caused several moments of "Buh... wait, what?," trying very hard not to giggle, and pondering how many students might be having the same problem.
It really doesn't help that my own undergraduate alma mater, at least for the university as a whole** was college-specific lyrics set to the old Civil War ballad Aura Lea...
...which most people probably know as ...this
It is amazing that I managed to keep a straight face (mostly) for four years...
*Technically, the first one is the third verse of the second one, because using the whole piece became extremely problematic after the war, even though the original context was nineteenth-century unification, not twentieth-century conquest.. and of course the Haydn piece was originally set to lyrics praising Emperor Franz of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and was the Austrian national hymn until the abolition of the monarchy in 1918.
** Which was the same for the men's college-- the women's college had our own alma mater, thank you very much, composed by an alumna back in the 1920s. Which is cool enough to squash almost all "Hey, how come the song for the MEN'S college is the song for the university as a whole?" annoyance.