X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Olympische Hymne


Olympische Hymne

A slightly abbreviated version of the Olympische Hymne can be heard on the soundtrack to the closing sequence of part 1 of Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia, the film of the 1936 Olympics.

This score was located after the war by the German National Olympic Committee, and copies were made for the organizers of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and for IOC President Juan Samaranch in 1997 for the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

During the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the composer invited members of the IOC executive board to hear the work sung by an opera star from Munich.

Lubahn's word Rechtsgewalt in the last of the three stanzas was replaced (over Lubahn's objection) with the word Eidestreu by Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels who found Lubahn's usage ambiguous and possibly democratic.



see also