Our Heroes

Julius Fučík (1872 - 1916) was a famous Czech composer and conductor. He studied bassoon, violin, percussion, and later composition with Antonín Dvořák. For a long time he played in military bands as a bassoon player, and then as a conductor. In his relatively short life (he died at 44) he wrote more than 400 compositions, many of them for wind band, including this march, Our Heroes (“Našim hrdinům”), opus 289, composed in 1915. This is a relatively unknown march, which unfortunately stands in the shadow of better-known pieces like Entrance of the Gladiators (“Vjezd gladiátorů”) and Florentiner March (“'Florentinský Pochod”). But Our Heroes deserves more recognition. Wil van der Beek, who is known for his transcriptions, found an old score of the march in a shop in Prague and decided to make an arrangement that is a “must have” for today's wind bands!