Music, Compositions For Solo Or Chorus, Open1

There is no known list of entrants for the 1948 music competitions, although it is known that Austria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and Poland sent a total of 36 entries. However, with few exceptions, only the prize winners are known in each category.

The event for vocals was a new one, replacing the event for solo and choirs with one intended for one or more solo voices. Only two entries are known: Gabriele Bianchi’s “Inno Olimpionico” (Olympic Hymn) and Ina Boyle’s “Lament for Bion.” Bianchi was a noted musical scholar, teaching at “Benedetto Marcello” in Venetia. The work of Ina Boyle, and eccentric but well-known Irish composer, received an honorable mention, despite the fact that it ostensibly had nothing to do with sport (the Bion in the work’s title is a Greek bucolic poet).