Kde domov můj

thumb|262px|Kde domov můj?!, text of the song (.Píseň.) written by Tyl, Prague, 1834

"Kde domov můj?" () is the national anthem of the Czech Republic, composed by František Škroup and written by Josef Kajetán Tyl. It was also the first, Czech part, of the national anthem of the former Czechoslovakia.

The song

Austria-Hungary

The piece was one of twenty-one written for the 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 the most popular of the songs (he hesitated about as well:) from the Fiddlers' Feast which gained popularity among Czechs, seeking to revive their identity within the Habsburg monarchy, and became quickly 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):

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| German original

<br><div style="text-align:center; width:250px;">KAJETÁN TYL<br>Bei Betrachtung seines Zimmerchens,<br>das auf der böhmischen ethnographischen Ausstellung<br>zusammengestellt war</div>

Da also hat der arme Tyl

sein Lied »Kde domov můj« geschrieben.

In Wahrheit: Wen die Musen lieben,

dem gibt das Leben nicht zuviel.

Ein Stübchen – nicht zu klein dem Flug

des Geistes; nicht zu groß zur Ruhe. –

Ein Stuhl, als Schreibtisch eine Truhe,

ein Bett, ein Holzkreuz und ein Krug.

Doch wär er nicht für tausend Louis

von Böhmen fort. Mit jeder Fiber

hing er daran. – »Ich bleibe lieber,«

hätt er gesagt, »kde domov můj.«

<br>

</poem>

<br><div style="text-align:center; width:250px;">DAS HEIMATLIED</div>

Vom Feld klingt ernste Weise;

weiß nicht, wie mir geschieht ...

»Komm her, du Tschechenmädchen,

sing mir ein Heimatlied.« –

Das Mädchen läßt die Sichel,

ist hier mit Husch und Hui, –

setzt nieder sich am Feldrain

und singt: »Kde domov můj« ...

Jetzt schweigt sie still. Voll Tränen

das Aug mir zugewandt, –

nimmt meine Kupferkreuzer

und küßt mir stumm die Hand.

<br>

</poem>

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| English translation

<br><div style="text-align:center; width:250px;">KAJETÁN TYL<br>Regarding his little room, which has<br>been assembled at the<br>Bohemian ethnographic exhibition</div>

That's where poor Tyl

wrote his song »Kde domov můj«.

In truth: Whom the muses love,

to whom life gives not too much.

A little room – not too small for the flight

of the mind; not too large to rest. —

A chair, a chest for a desk,

a bed, a wooden cross and a jug.

Yet for a thousand Louis he wouldn't

leave Bohemia. With every fiber of his

being, he clung to it. — »I'd rather stay,«

he would have said, »kde domov můj.«

<br>

</poem>

<br><div style="text-align:center; width:250px;">THE HOMELAND SONG</div>

From the fields comes a solemn melody;

I don't know what's happening to me...

»Come here, you Czech girl,

sing me a homeland song.« –

The girl puts down her sickle,

is here with a whoosh, –

sits down by the edge of the field

and sings: »Kde domov můj«...

Now she is silent. Full of tears,

her eyes turned towards me, –

takes my copper coins

and silently kisses my hand.

</poem>

ČSSR

thumbnail|150px|<small>Marta Kubišová, [[Václav Neckář, Helena Vondráčková (from right to left), as Golden Kids in 1969, shortly before Marta Kubišová was banned</small>]]

In 1988, on December 10, Human Rights Day, Marta Kubišová performed the anthem Kde domov můj as a protest song, singing after years publicly for the first time and closing a public rally of independent movements on Škroupovo náměstí (Škroup's square) in Prague Žižkov, permitted by the communist authorities thanks to a visit by French President François Mitterrand. Independent movements were allowed to hold a public rally for the first time since the onset of "normalization", marking the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The official paper of the ruling communist party, Rudé právo, commented: "the speakers demagogically claimed that citizens did not trust the state and demanded the release of alleged political prisoners". The authorities did not allow any similar event after that.

A year later, on November 21, 1989, on the outbreak of the Velvet Revolution, she sang her song Modlitba pro Martu (Prayer for Martha), which became an unofficial anthem of resistance and hope, along with the Czechoslovak anthem from the balcony of the Melantrich building on the Prague Wenceslas Square, where Alexander Dubček and Václav Havel spoke to the people, with some more selected by Havel ausgewählten weiteren, like Věra Čáslavská. Dubček, Havel and Kubišová, together and with others, also performed at further demonstrations there and on the Letná Plain in the following days.

The anthem

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When Czecho-Slovakia, ČSR was founded in 1918 (renamed Czechoslovakia in 1920), the first stanza 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.

Both songs reflected the mood of the smaller nations' concerns raising in the 19th century, here those of the Czechs and Slovaks, confronted with the national-ethnic activism of the, here, Germans and the Hungarians, the large, predominant ethnic groups of those in power in Austria-Hungary.

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After the Munich Dictate of 1938, Czechoslovakia lost German, Silesian and Hungarian territories to Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary, the anthem remained for the "Second Republic". 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<br>File:Czech anthem.ogg
choral version, National Theatre Opera Chorus<br>File:02 Sbor-a-orchestr-Narodniho-divadla dirigent-Jiri-Belohlavek 2008.ogg
female solo, sung by Kateřina Kněžíková, soprano <nowiki>*</nowiki><br>File:04 Katerina-Knezinkova orchestr-Narodniho-divadla dirigent-Jiri-Belohlavek 2008.ogg
male solo, sung by Adam Plachetka, bass-baritone <nowiki>*</nowiki><br>File:03 Adam-Plachetka orchestr-Narodniho-divadla dirigent-Jiri-Belohlavek 2008.ogg

:<nowiki>*</nowiki> <small> *1982 and *1985, soloists of the National Theatre Opera, married since 2012, two daughters)</small>

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.