by Douglas Yeo (July 29, 2025)

During my long career as bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1985–2012), I participated in hundreds of recording sessions that resulted in commercially available records, CDs, and streaming. Works by Brahms (the symphonies and Ein Deutsches Requiem), Mahler (Symphonies 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10), Ravel (a dozen works), Franck (Symphonie in d minor), and many other great composers, plus dozens of recordings with the Boston Pops Orchestra. In addition, I played on three film scores recorded by the Boston Symphony Orchestra: Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan (music by John Williams) and Mystic River (music by Clint Eastwood—sort of—but there’s a story behind that for another time. . .). The recording sessions for these films remain very memorable to me.

Covers to soundtrack albums recorded by the Boston Symphony Orchestra: Schindler’s List (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), and Mystic River (2003)

Work rules and payments for recording sessions are governed by agreements made between orchestras and their players, and the players are represented by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). These agreements cover working conditions for the sessions (how long they are, when and how long a break in a session occurs), and payment. I always looked at recording sessions as one of the great benefits of playing in the BSO, because not only was playing great music that would be enjoyed by the public over and over and I was  being paid my regular weekly salary as a member of the orchestra, but I received an additional payment for playing the actual recording sessions. Then, it came as a surprise to me after my first season with the BSO that every year thereafter, I received a check—usually in the summer—that represented royalty, residual, and secondary market payments for those same sessions. Recording sessions were—and are—the gift that keeps on giving to this present day.

Those annual royalty payments fluctuate up and down, and each year, I receive a detailed statement that explains the amount I am paid for each film score or orchestral recording I made. A few years ago, I noticed a new entry on my annual Film Musicians and Secondary Markets Fund statement. In addition to entries for Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Mystic River, there was another movie listed: Miracle.

Promotional poster for Miracle (2004)

I didn’t remember playing any recording sessions for Miracle—a movie about the 1980 United States Winter Olympics men’s hockey team that defeated the Soviet Union’s team in the semi-final round and went on to defeat Finland to win the gold medal. But I certainly remember those Olympic games, and I had a vague recollection that a movie had been made about the team and their stunning victory. I don’t go to many movies, so it’s not surprising that I missed it.

But why was Miracle appearing on my annual film payments statement? I asked the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s manager about this and there was a simple explanation: the producers of Miracle wanted to use some music from a Boston Pops Orchestra recording in the film’s soundtrack. They didn’t need to convene a new recording session to do so. They just needed to get permission and pay royalties to the players who were on the original recording session.

As it turned out, the music that Miracle wanted to use was Bugler’s Dream by Leo Arnaud. Arnaud—who was a trombonist and successful composer and arranger who, after moving to the United States from his native France in 1931, worked on more than 160 films. Bugler’s Dream was composed in 1959. It was not “official music” for the Olympics but it was picked up and used by ABC television for their broadcast of the 1968 Winter Olympics (Grenoble, Switzerland). Since then, it has become an iconic piece that’s associated with the Olympic games.

Now, a quick aside. Since 1896, the International Olympic Committee has commissioned music for each Olympics. While Bugler’s Dream was not officially composed for the Olympics, the story of the music that was written for the games is told in William K. Guegold’s book, 100 years of Olympic Music: Music and Musicians of the Modern Olympic Games 1896–1996 (Mantua, Ohio: Golden Clef Publishing, 1996). The book, which is out of print but used copies are readily available, opens with an interview of John Williams and contains detailed commentary about music written for the Olympics including many samples of scores and other images. It’s a fascinating book.

Cover to William K. Guegold’s 100 Years of Olympic Music: Music and Musicians of the Modern Olympic Games 1896–1996

In 1996, the Boston Pops Orchestra made the official album of music for the 1996 Olympics (Atlanta, Georgia). John Williams was commissioned to write the theme music for those Olympic games, and that piece turned out to be Summon the Heroes; that was also the title of the compact disc recording that also included several other Olympic themed selections. Williams had previously written theme music for two other Olympic games: Olympic Fanfare and Theme (1984 Olympic Games, Los Angeles, California), and The Olympic Spirit ( 1988 Olympic Games, Seoul, Korea; this theme was composed for NBC’s television coverage), and in 2002, Williams wrote Call of the Champions (2002 Olympic Games, Salt Lake City, Utah).

For the broadcast of the 1996 Olympic games on NBC, John Williams created a medley that began with Arnaud’s Bugler’s Dream and continued with Williams’ own Olympic Fanfare and Theme. This mashup of two familiar Olympic related pieces proved to be very popular. So popular that many people now assume that Williams wrote Bugler’s Dream. But the recording makes clear who wrote what; there are two pieces with two composers clearly identified on the printed notes to the recording.

Page from the accompanying booklet to the CD recording, Summon the Heroes (Boston Pops Orchestra, John Williams, conductor)

You can hear this recording of the medley of  Bugler’s Dream and John Williams’ Olympic Fanfare and Theme recorded by the Boston Pops Orchestra with John Williams conducting on the 1996 recording, Summon the Heroes, HERE.

Back to Miracle. The movie about the 1980 US Olympic hockey team wanted to use Arnaud’s Bugler’s Dream, so all of a sudden, I was listed as a performer on the movie’s soundtrack. My contribution: 53 seconds of music. So, each year since 2005, I’ve received a small payment for Miracle in my annual royalty check. The other day, my wife and I finally got around to watching Miracle. It’s a terrific story that’s well told. And there it was: at the beginning of the scene where the US Olympic team gets off the bus in Lake Placid, New York (images below), you can hear the Boston Pops Orchestra playing Bugler’s Dream.

Images from the movie Miracle, showing the moment when Bugler’s Dream is heard, and the end credits.

By the way, if you purchase the soundtrack recording to Miracle, you won’t find the Boston Pops Orchestra track there. The soundtrack album only includes some original music  for the movie composed by Mark Isham (four tracks), and songs by Blue Öyster Cult, J. Geils Band, and Jay Ferguson that were used in the movie. If you want the Bugler’s Dream recording that appears on Miracle, you can purchase the Summon The Heroes recording on amazon.com; you’ll find it there as an LP, CD, or streaming on amazon music.

That’s the first Olympic Games surprise to share with you. At least it was a surprise to me to find myself with credit as a performer on another movie. But here’s another Olympic Games surprise.

A few years ago, I began researching Maurice Ravel’s iconic composition, Bolero. The result of that research will be told in my forthcoming article, “Maurice Ravel’s Bolero: A Fresh Look at a Familiar Masterpiece.” The article will be published in two parts, in the October 2025 and January 2026 issues of the International Trombone Association Journal. In the article, I discuss the origin of Bolero, its premiere and other early performances, and I offer insights and discoveries about Bolero’s famous trombone solo. I’m not going to spoil the story here—you’ll have to read the article for yourself when it comes out—but one of the things I researched were the many claims that Leo Arnaud made about Ravel and Bolero. Arnaud often told stories about his friendship with Ravel, so I wanted to investigate them.

Among the things I researched was Arnaud’s Bugler’s Dream. I wanted to mention Arnaud’s most famous composition when I wrote about him in my Bolero article, but as I always do when I write about history, I do my due diligence to verify everything I read before I write about it. As I was investigating Bugler’s Dream, I learned a lot about the piece that was new to me. And it’s probably new to you, too.

I had known about and performed Bugler’s Dreams for many years. Those 53 seconds of music are an indelible part of our Olympic  Games consciousness. During my research, I learned that Bugler’s Dream was commissioned by conductor Felix Slatkin (father of conductor Leonard Slatkin) in 1959 for the LP recording, Charge! Side 1 of the record has three compositions listed as composed by Arnaud (Charge!, Drummer Boys, and Bugler’s Dream), and side 2 has three arrangements by Arnaud (Fifes and Drums, Bagpipes and Drums, and When Johnny Comes Marching Home).

Front and back covers to Charge! (1959), conducted by Felix Slatkin

I purchased a copy of the Charge! LP and when I listened to it, there were more surprises. The 53 seconds of Bugler’s Dream that we all know and love is only the first part of the composition with that title. Bugler’s Dream is actually 3:55 long. There are five other sections to the piece, and the opening theme is not reprised. So, when we hear Bugler’s Dream on Olympic Games broadcasts, we’re hearing just the first part of the whole piece. Have a listen, below, to the complete Bugler’s Dream, the first 3:55 of this recording on YouTube:

But wait, there’s more.

As I continued researching Bugler’s Dream, there was another surprise waiting for me. Those first 53 seconds of Bugler’s Dream were not COMPOSED by Leo Arnaud. They were ARRANGED by him. While the label of the disc credits Arnaud as the composer of Bugler’s Dream—and every time the piece is recorded or played in concert, Arnaud is credited as the composer—the liner notes to Charge! tell a different story: 

Incipit about Bugler’s Dream from the back cover of Charge!

Bugler’s Dream was “derived from various bugle calls,” and is a “fantasy of classical fanfares and radically modern cadenzas.” Bugler’s Dream is an arrangement. But of what?

I dug around some more and found the source for the famous theme that is credited to Arnaud and heard by millions of people at Olympic Games. The opening theme of Bugler’s Dream was written by Joseph-David Buhl (1781–1860). Buhl was a French trumpeter and composer who revised and wrote many bugle calls for the French Military under Napoleon Bonaparte and Louis XVIII. He published a method for trumpet in 1825, and in his time was highly regarded as a player, band leader, and composer.  

One of Buhl’s bugle calls was Salut aux étendards (sonnerie triumphal) — Salute to the Standards (Triumphal Fanfare). It was recorded on the 1986 LP, Glorie à la Cavalerie, with Les Trompettes du “boute-selle” and La Fanfare du 2e Régiment de hussars, conducted by Éric Conrad. Have a listen to Buhl’s fanfare, above. You’ll immediately recognize it as the source for Bugler’s Dream.

Front and back covers to Gloire à la Cavalerie (1986), conducted by Éric Conrad

Leo Arnaud’s Bugler’s Dream begins with an arrangement of Joseph-David Buhl’s Salut aux étendards, and then moves to several more themes. I have not researched the source of these other themes but given what the liner notes to Charge! say about Bugler’s Dream — that it was “derived from various bugle calls” —  I would not be surprised if the other themes in Bugler’s Dream were composed by someone other than Arnaud, too. And wouldn’t be surprised at all  if the rest of Bugler’s Dream was also composed by Buhl. I’ll keep looking. It’s time to research French bugle calls.

Joseph-David Buhl died 165 years ago. He is not here to claim his rightful credit (and royalties, which must be considerable) for a piece that has become an iconic part of the modern Olympic Games. But the next time you hear Bugler’s Dream, tip your hat to Buhl. We can be grateful to Leo Arnaud for making Buhl’s fanfare famous to today’s ears. But we give Arnaud too much credit if we say Bugler’s Dream was composed by him. It was not. Arnaud should have given Buhl credit. Here’s how we should refer to the piece:

Joseph-David Buhl: Salut aux étendards. Arranged and adopted by Leo Arnaud as Bugler’s Dream.

Let’s give credit where credit is due.