Academic Festival Overture

Academic Festival Overture
by Johannes Brahms
Title page of score edition 1881
Native nameAkademische Festouvertüre
KeyC minor
OpusOp. 80
GenreConcert overture
FormOverture
Composed1880
DedicationUniversity of Breslau (honorary doctorate)
Duration~ 10 minutes
MovementsFour continuous sections
ScoringSymphony orchestra
Premiere
Date4 January 1881
LocationUniversity of Breslau (convocation), Breslau

Academic Festival Overture (German: Akademische Festouvertüre), Op. 80, by Johannes Brahms, was one of a pair of contrasting concert overtures — the other being the Tragic Overture, Op. 81. Brahms composed the work during the summer of 1880 as a tribute to the University of Breslau, which had notified him that it would award him an honorary doctorate in music.