Who Wrote The Olympic Anthem?

The Olympic Anthem, also known as the Olympic Hymn, was first performed at the opening ceremony for the Games of the I Olympiad -- better known as the 1896 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece. Spyridon Samaras composed the music and Kostis Palamas wrote the lyrics. They were commissioned by Demetrius Vikelas, the first president of the International Olympic Committee.

Spyridon Samaras

Composer Spyridon Samaras, who was born in 1861 and died in 1917, studied opera with Xyndas in Corfu and Delibes and Massenet in Paris. His works, also influenced by Puccini, played in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Egypt. His major successes included Medge! at Rome and La Martire in Naples. I. He returned to his native Greece in 1911 and mostly wrote operettas, "basing them on librettos with a national political agenda," according to "A Short History of Opera" by Donald Jay Grout and Hermine Weigel Williams.

Kostis Palamas

Palamas, who was born in 1859 and died in 1943, was one of Greece's greatest modern poets. According to PoemHutner.com, he was a central figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and a co-founder of the so-called New Athenian School" -- or Palamian School, or Second Athenian School -- along with Georgios Drosinis, Nikos Kampas, Ioanis Polemis.

Olympic Anthem History

After the 1896 Summer Olympics, host countries selected the music for the opening ceremonies. In 1954, Prince Pierre of Monaco proposed a competition to find a permanent anthem. From nearly 400 entries, the judging panel selected a work by Polish composer Michel Spisak.The new anthem played at the Winter Olmypics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the Summer Olympics n Melbourne/Stockholm in 1956. But the anthem was subject to copyright and the IOC did not want to pay for its use. The governing body considered commissioning a new anthem for the 1960 games, but elected to make Samaras composition the permanent choice -- since his widow had surrendered the copyright. From 1960 on the Olympic Anthem has played at each opening ceremony.

English Translation of Olympic Anthem Lyrics

Immortal spirit of antiquity,
Father of the true, beautiful and good,
Descend, appear, shed over us thy light
Upon this ground and under this sky
Which has first witnessed thy unperishable fame
Give life and animation to those noble games!
Throw wreaths of fadeless flowers to the victors
In the race and in strife!
Create in our breasts, hearts of steel!
In thy light, plains, mountains and seas
Shine in a roseate hue and form a vast temple
To which all nations throng to adore thee,
Oh immortal spirit of antiquity!