This circus has frequently provided inspiration for composers; from Fucik's "Entry of the Gladiators" to Stravinnky's Circus Polka. The tension, the big top, and in the old days, the band, all add to the atmosphere. This colourful scene is brilliantly captured in Hart, Paul's tour de force, as the jugglers, cyclists, acrobats, and clowns make their appearance, dressed up in an astonishing variety of musical colours from bicycle bells to ratchets and a precarious pair of alto saxophones.
