The music to the anthem was composed by F. Škroup, a main Revivalist composer of Czech music and especially Czech opera. The lyrics were taken from the first stanza of the opera “Fidlovačka”, which was written by Tyl and performed in 1834. The song originally had two verses but when it became the first part of the Czechoslovak state anthem after the country’s liberation in 1918, only one verse was used. Upon dissolution of Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1993, the song became the anthem of the new Czech Republic, but only the first verse remains the official anthem.
Special thanks to: Filip Jaroš for the English translation.