Which composer wrote the melody of the Czech national anthem, “Kde domov můj”?

František Škroup wrote the melody of the Czech national anthem, “Kde domov můj.”

Škroup composed the music for the song in 1834, when it appeared in the Czech-language stage comedy “Fidlovačka aneb Žádný hněv a žádná rvačka.” Josef Kajetán Tyl wrote the lyrics. The song’s gentle melody and description of the Czech landscape helped it become a major work of the Czech national revival.

The anthem is sometimes confused with music by Bedřich Smetana or Antonín Dvořák, both internationally famous Czech composers. Neither composed “Kde domov můj.” Smetana’s “Má vlast,” for example, is a celebrated orchestral cycle but not the national anthem.

The song later served as the Czech half of the Czechoslovak anthem. Since the establishment of the Czech Republic in 1993, its first stanza has stood alone as the national anthem.