"You Fell Victim" (Russian: Вы жертвою пали|Vy žértvoju páli|p=vɨ ˈʐɛrtvəjʊ ˈpalʲɪ), also "You Fell Victim to a Fateful Struggle",[1] is a Russian Marxist and revolutionary funeral march. It acted as the funeral dirge of the Russian revolutionary movement, among them the Bolsheviks.[1]
The song was written in 1878; the lyrics were written by Anton Arkhangelsky, and the musical arrangements were made by Nikolay Ikonikov.[2]
During the funeral of the Bolshevik Nikolay Bauman, a student orchestra joined the procession near the St. Petersburg Conservatory, playing "You Fell Victim to a Fateful Struggle" repeatedly.[1]
The melody of "You Fell A Victim" was used by Dmitri Shostakovich in the third part of his Symphony No. 11; it had since the end of the 19th century often been the funeral march of Russian revolutionaries.[3] The same melody was used in Edmund Meisel's score for Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, in the scene of the funeral of Grigory Vakulinchuk.[4]
The melody also forms the basis of the 1936 composition "Russian Funeral" by Benjamin Britten, scored for brass and percussion.