Julius Fučík - Einzug der Gladiatoren, Op. 68 (1897)

Julius Ernst Wilhelm Fučík (Czech: Julius Arnošt Vilém Fučík, 18 July 1872 – 25 September 1916) was a Czech composer and conductor of military bands. He became a prolific composer, with over 400 marches, polkas and waltzes to his name. As most of his works were for military bands, Fučík is sometimes known as the "Bohemian Sousa".

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Einzug der Gladiatoren, Op. 68 (1897)

Band unknown

Images from the movie Gladiator (2000) directed by Ridley Scott.

Czech composer Julius Fučík wrote the march on October 17, 1897, in Sarajevo, where he had been stationed as military bandmaster of the Austro-Hungarian Army since 1897. Originally, Fučík called the piece "Grande Marche Chromatique". The march demonstrates the state of the art in playing technology and the construction of brass instruments, which allowed fast and even chromatic gears in all instruments and positions. Fučík was so impressed by the description of a gladiator appearance in a Roman amphitheater in Henryk Sienkiewicz's 1895 novel Quo Vadis that he soon changed the title of his work. The phrase "entry of the gladiators" is known in two descriptions of Pompeii in 1877 and is probably older.

On January 10, 1900, Kapellmeister Anton Fridrich (1849–1924, known for composing the regimental march "Khevenhüller-Marsch") created an arrangement for string orchestra for himself in Graz. Six months later, the "Concert March for large orchestra", published in Prague by the sheet music printing house Hoffmanns Witwe, is listed under the title "Einzug der Gladiatoren" by Hofmeister. Further edits followed. In 1903, one of the Coldstream Guard Band's pre-recorded clay roller advertised by Columbia Records titled "Entry of the Gladiators". That same year, a piano score with the title "Entry of the Gladiators / Thunder and Blazes" (German: "Donner und Feuersbrünste") was released. The phrase "Entrance of the Gladiators", which has existed since at least the 18th century, is also common in English.

Hermann Ludwig Blankenburg published his "Farewell to the Gladiators" at the latest in 1904. In 1928, both pieces were recorded by the Great Odeon Orchestra on a plate (No. 85204).

In 1901, American publisher Carl Fischer published a version of this march, arranged for American wind bands by Canadian composer Louis-Philippe Laurendeau, under the title "Thunder and Blazes". During this period, the piece gained lasting popularity as a screamer march for circuses, often used to introduce clowns. Today, it is mainly known by this association. Laurendeau's version was also transcribed for fairground organs.