In 1932, Richard Strauss was approached by Dr. Theodor Lewald, the German Olympic Committee’s representative to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The German committee desired an anthem composed for the 1936 Summer Olympicsto be held in Berlin. Early in 1933, Strauss agreed to compose an Olympic Hymn, with the condition that a suitable text be found to set to music. However, in 1933, the IOC had chosen Walter Bradley-Keeler's Hymne Olympique, written for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, as the official Olympic anthem for all time. The IOC however accepted Lewald's proposal to allow Germany its own Olympic anthem for the Berlin games.
THE OLYMPICS OF 1932
The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event that was held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States.The Games were held during the worldwide Great Depression and some nations were unable to pay for the trip to Los Angeles; 37 nations competed compared to 46 in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Even U.S. PresidentHerbert Hoover failed to put in an appearance at the Games.The organizing committee did not record the finances of the Games in their report, although contemporary newspapers claimed that the Games had made a profit of US$1,000,000.
