Olympics Music Feature
Reviewed by Dennis Kwiatkowski
The stirring
music used during the Olympic Games of the past 50 plus years has always been exalting in nature, but it owes a particular
debt to both the world of film music and the world of classical music. The famous
and universally loved Olympic Fanfare, for example, is a piece written by Leo Arnaud,
a composer known for his Hollywood film scoring. It is part
of a larger work entitled Bugler’s Dream, and it was first used during the
Olympic broadcasts in 1968. You are hearing that original recording.
Another
celebrated Olympic Theme was written by John Williams, perhaps the world’s
best known film composer. It is also justly famous, second only to Arnaud’s
theme in popularity.
Another
film-connected Olympic Theme, was composed by Greek film-composer, Mikis Theodorakis. His piece was called Ode to Zeus and was written
for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
But classical
music has provided notable contributions as well. Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich
was represented at the 1980 Games in Moscow with his famous
Festive Overture serving as the principal theme.
And speaking
of classical music, the second part of Arnaud’s Olympic Theme, which was
scored for French horns, proved to be too difficult for orchestras to play, so they used trumpets instead--that is until the
great virtuosos of the Cleveland Orchestra recorded the piece with the original tricky French horn parts--and you can really
hear the difference here.
And even
Richard Strauss, the great classical composer whose tone poem Also Sprach Zarathustra
was used as the theme for 2001: A Space Odyssey, even Richard Strauss wrote an
Olympic Theme. It was composed for the
infamous 1936 Olympics in Berlin where Jesse Owens’ record win shattered Hitler’s
myth of the master race in front of the entire world.
Yet another
classical composer, Leonard Bernstein, a multifaceted individual with several film scores to his credit, composed an Olympic Hymn as well.
But the
greatest numbers of Olympic themes in recent times have come from John Williams. In
addition to the theme for the Los Angeles Games, he wrote Olympic Spirit for the
1988 Games in Seoul, Summon the Heroes
for the 1996 Games in Atlanta, and Call of the Champions
for the 1992 Winter Games in Utah.
And, if
you’ve been watching the 2004 Games in Athens on television,
one of the evening’s presentations began with this theme.
Yes, it’s
John Williams Theme from Jurassic Park. And
why not? It’s always sounded as noble as Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March played at school graduations. If such a theme
can convey the grandeur of a giant brontosaurus craning his neck toward the heavens, can it not also accompany striving athletes
reaching toward the heights of Olympus? The trumpets and drums,
the hymns and fanfares of Olympic music have drawn inspiration and majesty from both the symphony and the film score in highlighting
the epic human struggles and triumphs in Olympic experience--and the excitement and drama of the Games themselves provide
us mere mortals with a needed respite from the cares of our turbulent world and help reaffirm for us once again, the dignity
and achievements of the human spirit.
