Leo Arnaud - Bugler's Dream - Olympic Anthem


0:00 - 0:46 is Bugler's Dream composed by Leo Arnaud, 0:46 - 4:27 is John Williams' Olympic Fanfare Medley.
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Bugler's Dream

"Bugler's Dream" is very well known, especially by Americans, as theme music for the Olympic Games from its use in ABC's and NBC's television coverage of the games. It is considered to be a symbol of the Olympics. Arnaud's piece is very stately, beginning with a timpani cadence that is soon joined by a distinctive theme in brass.

Arnaud was commissioned by conductor Felix Slatkin to create a piece for his album Charge! in 1958. For this, he wrote "The Charge Suite", published by Shawnee Press, which included "Bugler's Dream". ABC began using the composition as the theme to their coverage of the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble and in future Olympics. It was also used as the title piece for the series ABC's Wide World of Sports. NBC went with an alternate theme in 1988 when it obtained the rights to the Summer Olympics in Seoul, but brought "Bugler's Dream" back in 1992 for their broadcast of the Barcelona Olympics.

For the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, composer John Williams wrote "Olympic Fanfare and Theme," which is played in a medley with "Bugler's Dream." It consists of Williams's arrangement of "Bugler's Dream" which is similar to Arnaud's original but with a repeat of the theme with a full orchestra, followed by Williams's composition. Williams's arrangement of Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream" as well as "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" are both commonly used in recent Olympic coverage by NBC.

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Leo Arnaud .


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