When I visited Paris last month, construction was underway on a stadium next to the Jardin des Tuileries, and the Olympic rings were already hanging from the Eiffel Tower. It’s been a full century since the city last hosted the Olympic Games, so this year’s Summer Games will be a historic event.
There’s new music for the occasion: composer and music director Victor le Masne hoped to “create an original soundtrack that will not only accompany the most memorable moments of these historic Games, but will also remain etched in the memories of all generations.”
The new piece will no doubt be heard often enough in the coming days to ensure at least a modicum of retention. Some close influences will also resonate especially with millennials and Gen Xers: a melody reminiscent of John Williams’ Jurassic Park theme, and dance beats that wouldn’t be out of place in a song by Parisian electro duo Daft Punk.
In celebration of the 2024 Games, here are a few of our Olympic favorites, some of which you’ll hear on the air this Friday.
Leo Arnaud — Bugler’s Dream | John Williams — Olympic Fanfare and Theme
Why two pieces to start? Well, separately, you might find that either one is missing something. ABC and NBC first used Leo Arnaud’s 1958 work as the theme to the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games, and the opening fanfare is still what Americans know as the classic Olympic theme. John Williams, as one might expect, wrote a number of Olympic themes, though his most famous is still his first one, the theme for the 1984 Los Angeles Games, simply titled “Olympic Fanfare and Theme.” Originally its own work, most internet searches of the Olympic theme or fanfare come up with a medley of Arnaud’s opening fanfare leading directly into Williams’ theme.
Michael Torke — Javelin
The 1996 Games in Atlanta were the first that I was really aware of — there were three before that in my lifetime, but maybe the McDonald’s marketing caught my attention. Even then, and especially in a post-Arnaud/Williams world, I was unaware of Michael Torke’s delightful theme to the Olympics that year, appropriately titled Javelin. Less of a fanfare than other themes, this musical picture of a javelin flying through the air was commissioned by the Atlanta Olympics committee both for the 1996 Games and a 1994 premiere to celebrate the semicentennial of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which would come the following year.
Metastasio — L’Olimpiade
Any opera-savvy listener will do a double take at the name — Metastasio was not a composer, rather a librettist, and his 1733 libretto, literally translating to The Olympics, has been used for more than 60 different operas. The Ancient Greek Games are the setting of the beginning of the show, which is more about a competition of lovers than athletes. The most commonly heard settings, and usually just the overtures, are the first three: the original, by Antonio Caldara, and settings by Antonio Vivaldi and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.
Josef Suk — Towards a New Life
Did you know that the Olympics used to have arts competitions? Me neither. One such winner, though, was Josef Suk: he won the silver medal for his entry to the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, for his march Towards a New Life. There weren’t gold or bronze medals awarded that year, so that meant he won first place — though perhaps the committee wasn’t warm enough to the piece to give it the gold? Suk did, in fact, win a prize for his composition when he first wrote it in 1919, and it became the winners’ march for the 1932 Games.
Vangelis — Chariots of Fire
The main theme to the titular 1981 film set at the 1924 Olympics, Vangelis’ classic theme soon made its way into the actual Games. While Americans were introduced to John Williams’ new fanfare, the British were treated to Vangelis on the BBC’s coverage of the 1984 Games in L.A., and it has since become as synonymous with the Olympics across the pond as the Arnaud/Williams medley has to American viewers.
