Fucik

Arnost Wilhelm Fucik (18 July 1872 - 15 September 1916) was a Czech composer and conductor of military bands. Fucik spent most of his life as the leader of military brass bands. He became a prolific composer, with over 300 marches, polkas, and waltzes to his name. As most of his work was for military bands, he is sometimes known as the "Bohemian Sousa". Today his marches are still played as patriotic music in the Czech Republic. However, his worldwide reputation rests on one work: his Opus 68 march, the Entrance of the Gladiators which is universally recognized as the theme tune of clowns in a circus. (This march is also known by the title Thunder and Blazes.) Another composition, The Florentiner March, composed as a grand march for an opera never completed, isn't as popular as Entrance of the Gladiators, but it is regularly performed and recorded by wind ensembles.