Olympic Hymn
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English: Olympic Anthem | |
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Official and Olympic anthem of Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee | |
Also known as | Greek: Ολυμπιακός Ύμνος French: Hymne Olympique |
Lyrics | Kostis Palamas |
Music | Spyridon Samaras, 1896 |
Adopted | 1958 |
Audio sample | |
The Olympic Hymn |
The Olympic Hymn (Greek: Ολυμπιακός Ύμνος, Olympiakós Ýmnos), also known informally as the Olympic Anthem, is a choral cantata by opera composer Spyridon Samaras, with lyrics by Greek poet Kostis Palamas. Both poet and composer were the choice of the Greek Demetrius Vikelas, who was the first President of the International Olympic Committee.
History
The anthem was performed for the first time for the ceremony of opening of the first edition at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. In the following years, every hosting nation commissioned to various musicians the composition of a specific Olympic hymn for their own edition of the games.
The anthem by Samaras and Palamas was declared the official Olympic Anthem by the International Olympic Committee in 1958 at the 54th Session of the IOC in Tokyo, Japan. Since 1960, it has been used at the opening ceremonies of each Olympic Games, and also during its closing ceremonies as well.[1]
Lyrics
Original Greek | Transliterated into Latin alphabet |
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English translation (literal) | English translation (free) |
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English sung version | |
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Note: This version, although often performed at opening/closing ceremonies, appears to enjoy far less exposure than the original. Hence its words may be determined only by listening to performances; correspondents will most probably disagree on the correct form. An alternate ending to the lyrics (used at the opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympics) was, "Bestow on us the wondrous prize of honor, truth and love."[2] |
If the anthem is to be performed in English, then the English sung version is used, which has been usually in English-speaking countries. If it is to be performed in a language other than English or Greek, then the original version is translated to the language it is to be performed but in the 2008 Beijing games, Greek is also sung but the Chinese version can be sung in Nanjing Youth games in 2014. The only Olympic games in which lyrics of the English version were used in translation were the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Donovan Seidle, associate music director during the games, arranged the anthem, translating some of the stanzas to French in recognition of the official bilingualism in Canada.[3][4][5]
Languages in which anthem was performed
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The anthem has been recorded and performed in many different languages, usually as a result of the hosting of either form of the Games in various countries. The IOC requires that the anthem be performed in either English or Greek. But in the 2008 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies in Beijing, China, Greek was also sung instead of host country official language, Chinese but this language can be first sung in the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics closing ceremony in Nanjing. [4]
Olympics | City | Language Performed | Notes |
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1960 Winter | Squaw Valley, United States |
English | This was the first time that the Olympic Hymn was performed since the Athens 1896 games. |
1960 Summer | Rome, Italy |
Italian | |
1964 Winter | Innsbruck, Austria |
German | |
1964 Summer | Tokyo, Japan |
Japanese | The anthem was sung in Japanese at the closing ceremony.[6] |
1968 Winter | Grenoble, France |
French | |
1968 Summer | Mexico City, Mexico |
Spanish | |
1972 Winter | Sapporo, Japan |
Japanese | |
1972 Summer | Munich, West Germany |
Instrumental | An instrumental arrangement was used during the opening and closing ceremonies.[7][8] |
1976 Winter | Innsbruck, Austria |
German | |
1976 Summer | Montreal, Canada |
Greek | The anthem was sung in Greek.[9] |
1980 Winter | Lake Placid, United States |
English | |
1980 Summer | Moscow, Soviet Union |
Russian and Greek | The anthem was sung in Russian at the opening ceremony then in Greek at the closing ceremony.[10] |
1984 Winter | Sarajevo, Yugoslavia |
Serbo-Croatian | |
1984 Summer | Los Angeles, United States |
English | |
1988 Winter | Calgary, Canada |
Greek | The anthem was sung in Greek.[11][12] |
1988 Summer | Seoul, Republic of Korea |
Korean | |
1992 Winter | Albertville, France |
Instrumental | The instrumental version of the anthem was played.[13] |
1992 Summer | Barcelona, Spain |
Spanish, Catalan, and French | At the opening ceremony, Alfredo Kraus sang the anthem's first two stanzas in Catalan and the rest of the anthem in Spanish and French.[14] At the closing ceremony, Plácido Domingo sung it entirely in Spanish.[15] |
1994 Winter | Lillehammer, Norway |
Norwegian | Sung at both the opening (with the Children's chorus) and closing ceremonies by Sissel Kyrkjebø. |
1996 Summer | Atlanta, United States |
English | Performed at the Opening Ceremony by the 300 voices of the Centennial Olympic Choir with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and at the Closing Ceremony by Jennifer Larmore and the Morehouse College Glee Club with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. |
1998 Winter | Nagano, Japan |
Japanese | Performed by the Nagano Festival Orchestra and sung by the Nagano City Children's Chorus Group in Japanese. |
2000 Summer | Sydney, Australia |
English and Greek | The only Olympics so far in which the anthem was performed in both of the languages preferred by the IOC.[4] At the opening ceremony, performed in Greek by the Millennium Choir of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in recognition of the substantial Greek population of Australia.[16] At closing ceremony, performed in English by Australian soprano Yvonne Kenny.. |
2002 Winter | Salt Lake City, United States |
English | Sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the Opening Ceremony and by Laura Garff-Lewis at the Closing Ceremony. |
2004 Summer | Athens, Greece |
Greek | In Greek; sung to the arrangement of John Psathas.[17] |
2006 Winter | Turin, Italy |
Instrumental; abbreviated version | At these Olympics, an abbreviated version was performed at both the opening and closing ceremonies.[18] |
2008 Summer | Beijing, People's Republic of China |
Greek | The anthem was sung in Greek at both the opening and closing ceremonies.[19] |
2010 Youth | Singapore | Greek | The anthem was sung in Greek. |
2010 Winter | Vancouver, Canada |
English and French | This was the only Olympics that the anthem was performed in both of the official languages of the Olympics. This was done to reflect the official bilingualism in Canada.[4] Measha Brueggergosman at the opening ceremony and Ben Heppner at the closing ceremony sang the first two, the fourth, and sixth stanzas in English and the remainder in French.[3] |
2012 Youth | Innsbruck, Austria |
Instrumental | A decision to made to play the instrumental version of the anthem. |
2012 Summer | London, United Kingdom |
Instrumental and English | Instrumental version played in the opening ceremony by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Sung in English at the closing ceremony by the London Welsh Male Voice Choir and the London Welsh Rugby Club Choir. |
2014 Winter | Sochi, Template:Russian Federation |
Russian | Sung in Russian in the same translation as in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. It performed by Anna Netrebko with the unidentified choir at the opening ceremony. |
2014 Youth | Nanjing, People's Republic of China |
Instrumental and Chinese | Instrumental version will be played at the opening ceremony while the Mandarin Chinese version will sung at the closing ceremony. |
2016 Youth | Lillehammer, Norway |
Norwegian | |
2016 Summer | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Portuguese | The Portuguese version will be performed by a young Brazillan chorus sung at the opening while a senior Brazilian chours at the closing ceremony. |
2018 Winter | Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea |
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2018 Youth | Buenos Aries, Argentina |
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2020 Summer | Tokyo, Japan |
See also
References
- ^ "Olympic Anthem Symbolism" (PDF). LA84 Foundation.
- ^ Olympic Anthem Los Angeles 1984 Opening Ceremony on YouTube
- ^ a b Measha Sings the Olympic Hymn.mp4 on YouTube
- ^ a b c d Lederman, Marsha (17 February 2010). "More French in Closing Ceremonies, Executive Producer Says". The Globe and Mail. p. S1.
- ^ Dave Pierce, Donovan Seidle (2010). Sounds of Vancouver 2010: Opening Ceremony Commemorative Album (CD).
- ^ Tokyo Olympiad Closing Ceremony digest(the Hymn sung at 4:38-5:14) on YouTube
- ^ Olympische Hymne 72 Olympic anthem 1972 on YouTube
- ^ Olympische Spiele München 1972: Schlussfeier on YouTube
- ^ Montreal 1976 Olympics Music - Olympic Hymn on YouTube
- ^ 1980 Olympic Closing Ceremony – Part IV Olympic Anthem & Extinguishing of the Flame on YouTube
- ^ 1988 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony Part 22 on YouTube
- ^ 1988 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony Part 23 on YouTube
- ^ drapeau et flamme olympiques / Albertville '92 on YouTube
- ^ Barcelona 1992 Opening Ceremony – Entrance of Olympic Flag – Olympic Anthem on YouTube
- ^ Placido Domingo – Olimpic Closing Ceremony Barcelona 1992 on YouTube
- ^ The Olympic Hymn on YouTube
- ^ Olympic Anthem Athens 2004 on YouTube
- ^ Olympic Anthem and Torino 2006 Anthem Claudio Baglioni 2006 on YouTube
- ^ Olympics Beijing 2008 – Hasteamento da bandeira olímpica – Pequim 2008 on YouTube