The ‘Studenten polka’, Opus 263 is a polka that was written by Johann Strauss jr. in 1862 for the first general student carnival ball in Vienna after the revolution of 1848 and premiered on February 24, 1862 in the ‘Redouten Hall’ of the Vienna Hofburg.

In this ‘polka francaise’, Strauss quotes student songs such as ‘Gaudeamus Igitur’ which is also the main theme in the finale of Brahms' ‘Akademische Festouvertüre’. Other songs quoted in the polka are ‘Sind wir nicht zur Herrlichkeit geboren...