| Date | 1 – 16 August 1936 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Ausstellungsgelände Halle VI, Kaiserdamm, Berlin | |
| Participants | 20 from 9 countries | |
| Judge | Peter Raabe |  GER |
| Judge | Fritz Stein | GER |
| Judge | Georg Schumann | GER |
| Judge | Max Trapp | GER |
| Judge | Heinz Ihlert | GER |
| Judge | Gustav Havemann | GER |
| Judge | Heinz Tiessen | GER |
| Judge | Yrjö Kilpinen |  FIN |
| Judge | Gian Francesco Malipiero |  ITA |
With 20 entries, Compositions For Orchestra was the most popular musical event at the 1936 Olympics. The winner was Werner Egk, although Egk was a pseudonym composed of his wife’s intials, his real name being Werner Mayer. Egk was a government favorite during the Nazi period, although later denied any sympathies. The lyrics for his winning work in 1936, Olympische Festmusik, were from Carl Diem, chief organizer of the Games.
A novelty in Olympic music contests was that the winning works were performed live during the Olympics. During a concert on 15 August, at the Dietrich-Eckart-Bühne (part of the Olympic complex), both Egk’s winning entry and Lino Liviabella’s Il Vincitore were played by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert had been opened with a version of the Olympic Hymn, by Richard Strauss. 20,000 spectators attended the concert.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Translated Title | Original Title | Title in Olympic Report or Catalogue | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Werner Egk | GER | Olympic Festival Music | Olympische Festmusik | Olympische Festmusik | Gold | ||
| 2 | Lino Liviabella | ITA | The Winner | Il Vincitore | Il Vincitore | Silver | ||
| 3 | Jaroslav Křička |  TCH | Mountain Suite | Horácká suita | Bergsuite | Bronze | ||
| Jiang Wen-Ye |  JPN | Formosan Dance | 台湾の舞曲 (Taiwan bukyoku) | Tanz Formosa | ||||
| Gian Luca Tocchi | ITA | Record | Recordo | Record | ||||
| Hans Lukasch |  AUT | Olympics Victory Fanfare March | Olympiade-Siegesfanfaren-Marsch | Olympiade-Siegesfanfaren-Marsch | ||||
| Karl Pilß | AUT | Festive Prelude | Festliches Vorspiel | Festliches Vorspiel | ||||
| Norbert Sprongl | AUT | Dance suite | Tanz-Suite | Tanz-Suite | ||||
| Renzo Massarani | ITA | Fanfares and athletic dances | Squilli e danze atletiche | Squilli e danze atletiche | ||||
| Noboru Ito | JPN | Nippon Sports | スポーツ日本 (Supōtsu Nihon) | Sport Nippon | ||||
| Kosaku Yamada | JPN | March | 行進曲 (Kōshinkyoku) | March | ||||
| Marc-César Scotto |  MON | Hercules offers the Games to the peoples of Monaco | Hercule offre les Jeux aux peuplades de Monaco | Hercule offre les Jeux aux peuplades de Monaco | ||||
| Marius Monnikendam |  NED | In the beginning was the rhythm | – | Im Anfang war der Rhythmus | ||||
| Alexander Langeweg | NED | Champion's March | – | Marcia Campione | ||||
| František Koubek | TCH | With your own strength to victory | Vlastní silou – k vítězství | Mit eigener Kraft zum Sieg | ||||
| Jan Pešta | TCH | Olympic Games | Olympijské hry | Olympische Spiele | ||||
| Robert Sanders |  USA | Olympia | – | Olympia | ||||
| Roy Harris | USA | When Jonny comes Marching home | When Jonny comes Marching home | When Jonny comes Marching home | ||||
| Quincy Porter | USA | Symphonic Ode | Symphonic Ode | Symphonic Ode | ||||
| Demetrij Žebre |  YUG | The Run | Tek (simfonicna slika za veliki orkester) | Cours |
