Elect a Clown, expect a Circus. Makes me want to yell “Fucik!”
It’s crass, it’s low-brow, but yes, I said it.
Julius Fučík is known as the “Bohemian Sousa”. Like Sousa, he was a military band conductor and composer, and wrote prolifically. While many of his marches remain popular in Europe, the only march of his Americans really know is the Entrance of the Gladiators. Fučík wrote the piece with ancient Roman gladiators in mind, but unfortunately, it quickly became so strongly associated with circus clowns that it’s nearly impossible for us Americans to hear it without thinking of dancing elephants.
So whenever a certain clown makes a fool of himself and the nation he represents, just shout “Fučík!” at the top of your lungs, play this piece, and hope we all survive the next four years.
Joking aside, this march has a really cool trio section, starting at 1:25.
A boy living in the south, mid fifties. His mother comes to his elementary school after lunch and gently knocks on the door of his classroom. What did I do is the first thought going through his fertile mind. “Michael get you things together…” Momma where are we going? Repeated request are met with the perpetual, “wait and see.”
Thirty,forty minutes riding through the countryside in the old,embarrassing Model A Ford, brings us to a crest in the road and as we reach the top;I am thunderstruck!
There is a field of make believe. The RINGLING BROS. BARNUM&BAILY CIRCUS in all of its tented glory! The smells and sounds of the midway, the menagerie
,and finally into the temple of wonders. Barkers calling and the colliope screaming and then I heard for the first time the Fucik… and it rings in my ears to this day some sixty years later, and I smile to myself and remember.
Michael – What a FABULOUS story! And what a special treat for your mother to give you! Good advice to all us parents – sometimes you just need to go and do something special.
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