Jeff very kindly dropped me an email letting me know he had answered my question.
It’s called “Bugler’s Dream,” and it was written in 1958 by French composer Leo Arnaud. It’s a part of a longer piece called “The Charge Suite.”
In 1968, ABC needed theme music for its TV coverage of the Winter Games in Grenoble, France. They bought the rights to use the minute-long piece as part of their broadcast….
….The 1984 Olympic organizing committee commissioned composer John Williams to write a new fanfare and theme for the games.
Williams’ composition, “Olympic Fanfare and Theme,” starts with a new arrangement of Arnaud’s “Bugler’s Dream” for full orchestra. Arnaud’s original fanfare was arranged for tympani and horns only. Williams’ arrangement starts with Arnaud’s fanfare essentially as it was originally written (he added cymbal crashes to punctuate the tympani at the beginning) at slightly increased tempo, then repeats the theme with full orchestra, using the strings and winds to back up the horns.
And, just because it’s funny:
Nothing says “soaring patriotic march to make your heart swell and burst” like snare drums and a key change.
Heh! Thank you, Jeff!
