Julius Fucik / Evita

On this day in classical music: Czech composer Julius Fucik died at age 44 in 1916. Fucik composed a large body of music for military bands and served as conductor for many such ensembles. In 1913, Fucik created the Prager Tonkunstler-Orchester. Although he composed scores of marches, he’s known worldwide as the composer of “Entry of the Gladiators.” This popular circus march is also known as “Thunder and Blazes.” Listen to the Banda Filarmonica do Rio de Janeiro perform this classic march. Antonio Henrique Seixas conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yawCNmMgMo 

Musical musings: Evita … was all to (Harold) Prince’s credit, his guidance transforming Lloyd Webber and Rice’s not-uninteresting song album into a dazzling stage entertainment. Evita’s libretto was more like a string of singing postcards than a traditional book, but this fit in with the show’s pseudo-documentary aspect. It all proved highly workable, thanks in large part to the use of the highly powered narrator/character Che (who seems descended from the Master of Ceremonies of Cabaret and the Reciter from Pacific Overtures). There are … more than a half dozen fine songs, certainly a rarity in musicals of the 1970s, and Hal Prince’s supervision of the entire enterprise was instrumental in making Evita intriguing and exciting. – from More Opening Nights on Broadway by Stephen Suskin

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