"Kde domov můj" (pronounced [ɡdɛ ˈdomof muːj] ) is the national anthem of the Czech Republic. It was composed by František Škroup and written by Josef Kajetán Tyl.
Contents
History
Origin
The piece was written as a part of the incidental music. The piece was one of the twenty-one songs written for comedy Fidlovačka aneb Žádný hněv a žádná rvačka (Fiddlers' Feast, or No Anger and No Brawl). It was first performed by Karel Strakatý at the Estates Theatre in Prague on 21 December 1834. The original song consists of two stanzas (verses). Even if J. K. Tyl is said to have considered leaving the song out of the play, hesitating about its quality, it soon became most popular song from the Fiddlers' Feast which gained popularity among Czechs, seeking to revive their identity within the Habsburg monarchy, and quickly became their unofficial patriotic anthem.
Johann Strauss the Younger included the motif of Kde domov můj into his Slaven-Potpourri (Slavic Potpourri) of melodies of folk songs and dances (Op. 39, 1847). In 1882, Antonín Dvořák used Kde domov můj in his symphonic poem, overture to František Ferdinand Šamberk's play Josef Kajetán Tyl, which is often performed separately as Domov můj (My Home), a concert work of some ten minutes. Rainer Maria Rilke paid tribute to Kde domov můj, in Czech, in two poems, in German, published in Larenopfer (1895).
Adoption
Soon after Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, the first verse of the song became the Czech part of the national anthem, followed by the first stanza of the Slovak song Nad Tatrou sa blýska with official translations into German and Hungarian.
During World War II German-controlled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia kept that song as its anthem. During the German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939–1945), state kept song as its anthem. Regional anthem was usually played along with German anthems Deutschlandlied and Nazi Horst-Wessel-Lied.
With the split of Czechoslovakia in December 1992, the Czech Republic kept Kde domov můj and Slovakia kept Nad Tatrou sa blýska as their anthems. While Slovakia extended its anthem by adding a second verse, the Czech Republic's national anthem was adopted unextended, in its single-verse version.
Law
The lyrics of the Czech stanza stayed on as Czech Republic's national anthem, according to Appendix 6 of Czech Act No. 3/1993 Coll., as adapted by Act No. 154/1998 Coll.
Lyrics
Instrumentation
The orchestration of the hymn by Otakar Jeremiáš (1892–1962), in three versions – for large orchestra (1930), for small orchestra (1932), and in the so-called pastoral/Christmas version for organ and orchestra (1932) – is still performed today.
The current, and since 2008 newly official, recording of the Czech national anthem, released 2008 by the Czech government, orchestrated by Otakar Jeremiáš and Jaroslav Krček (*1939), was performed by the National Theatre Opera Chorus and Orchestra under the direction of Jiří Bělohlávek in four interpretations:
instrumental version, National Theatre Orchestra
choral version, National Theatre Opera Chorus
female solo, sung by Kateřina Kněžíková, soprano *
male solo, sung by Adam Plachetka, bass-baritone *
* *1982 and *1985, soloists of the National Theatre Opera, married since 2012, two daughters)
The celebratory performance of the new recordings took place on the Czech Statehood Day, Sunday, 28 September 2008, in the Pantheon of the Prague National Museum.