Entrance of the Gladiators

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.

In July 1900, the "Concert March for large orchestra", published by the sheet music printing house "Hoffmanns Witwe" in Prague, is listed under the title "Einzug der Gladiatoren" by Hofmeister.

In the same year, a piano score with the title "Entry of the Gladiators / Thunder and Blazes" (German: "Donner und Feuersbrünste") was released.

Very popular in the 1930s, it was included as a military march in the repertoire of pieces imposed by the SS on prisoners' orchestras to accompany the departures and returns of the work Kommandos in Nazis concentration camps.

[6] The first portion of the piece has been quoted in such songs as "Goodbye, Cruel World" (1961) by James Darren; "Palisades Park" (1962) by Freddy Cannon; "Yakety Sax" (1963) by Boots Randolph; "Tight Rope" (1972) by Leon Russell; "The Show Must Go On" (1973) by Leo Sayer, covered by Three Dog Night (1974); "Mr. Soft" by Cockney Rebel (1974); "Sideshow" (1974) by Blue Magic; "Carnival of Sorts" (1982) by R.E.M.

; "Esther" (1989) by Phish; "Universal Mind" (1998) by Liquid Tension Experiment; "Don't Get It Twisted" (2006) by Gwen Stefani; "Circus" (2022) by Stray Kids; and "Freak" (2022) by Demi Lovato.

In Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), Marty the Zebra while dressed in clown makeup dances and sings a parody version, popularly known as "Afro Circus".