Triumphal Ode
By M.C.Bradbrook, for for 21 October, 1948
The Triumphal Ode, created by Professor Bradbrook to celebrate the long-awaited admission to the University, was first performed as the climax of the College Concert, in the Lent Term 1949. The first stanzas highlight the Queen’s Honorary Doctorate, conferred in the Senate House, and secondly her visit to Girton.
Music: Jill Vlasto
Lyrics
Hail, long-expected Day!
When, each a true M.A.
(No longer “tit”)
Girtonians sit
In senator’s array!
Blow the trumpet, beat the drum!
Behold the heads of houses come!
Kathleen the fair
And Myra there
Proceed before Fitzwill-i-um!
Chorus:
Et tibi, O AEMILIA,
Fundatrix plissima,
Ave, ava, ave!
Te salutamus, magistrae,
Scholares et dominae,
Cum filiis tuis omnibus
Hanc diem celebramus!
All Hail the Queen’s Majesty!
Who took the first degree,
Then deigned to smile
On us awhile
And take a dish of tea.
Sweet Visitor, return,
Your loyal subjects burn
Their gowns to spread
Where’er you tread.
Vivat Regina! one and all
Welcome you once again to Hall
Chorus:
etc.
In gowns we all must go
To lectures to and fro,
The cyclists billow like balloons
When the stormy winds do blow!
But now our sleeves are slit
We do not care a bit,
Sail past the Proctor, quite sedate,
Nor dread to hear
Within our ear
“Your name and college” – Voice of Fate
Foredooming loss of six-and-eight!
Chorus:
etc.
The Union as of yore
Against us bars the door,
The Pitt as bachelor revives,
And Hawks unmated soar.
To Lents or Mays we don’t pretend
Yet when the race is at an end,
The brave contending Heroes call,
Each chosen Fair
Away to bear
And squire us to a May Week Ball.
Chorus:
etc.
Gaudeamus igitur
Juvenes dum sumus:
Even work is not a bore,
Dons may have their humours.
Let’s be merry while we may,
Aloft the Quartered Buns display
And broach behind the celler door
A hogs head to illume us!
Historical Note
Verse 1: In the introductory stanza the Mistress of Girton, Miss Kathleen Butler, and the Principal of Newnham, Dame Myra Curtis take their places in the Senate House procession, after the Master of Downing. Gowns and hoods are worn by all, degrees are no longer “titular”.
Verse 2: After the Degree Ceremony and the Vice-Chancellor’s luncheon, the Queen visited Newnham and then proceeded to Girton for “a dish of tea”.
Verse 3: This recalls the change in the first design of the women’s undergraduate gowns, for safer bicycling – and their introduction to the Proctor. Proctorial fines for undergraduates were normally 6/8d. (or 13/4d. for B.A.s).
Verse 4: This reminds us that the Union Society did not admit women until much later; the Pitt Club and the Hawks remained all male, likewise the Lent and May races, for many more years.
Verse 5: “Quartered Buns” – Quarterly argent and vert a cross flory counterchanged between 1 and 4 a bun with currants, 2 and 3 a bun with a bite – an irreverent description of the College Crest! This final stanza, introduced by Gaudeamus invites us to fly the flag and be merry.