"" (; , "Above Tatras it is lightening") is the
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
of
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
. The origins of it are in the
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
an
activism
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...
of the 19th century. Its main themes are a storm over the
Tatra mountains that symbolized danger to the Slovaks, and a desire for a resolution of the threat. It used to be particularly popular during the
1848–1849 insurgencies.
It was one of
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
's dual national anthems and was played in many Slovak towns at noon; this tradition ceased to exist after Czechoslovakia split into two different states in the early 1990s with the
dissolution of Czechoslovakia
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia ( cs, Rozdělení Československa, sk, Rozdelenie Česko-Slovenska) took effect on December 31, 1992, and was the self-determined split of the federal republic of Czechoslovakia into the independent countries o ...
.
Origin
Background
![Nad Tatrou 1844](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Nad_Tatrou_1844.gif)
23-year-old
Janko Matúška wrote the lyrics of "Nad Tatrou sa blýska" in January and February 1844. The tune came from the folk song "
Kopala studienku" () suggested to him by his fellow student Jozef Podhradský, a future religious and
Pan-Slavic
Pan-Slavism, a movement which crystallized in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with the advancement of integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had rule ...
activist and
gymnasial teacher and a similar
Hungarian folk song,
"Azt mondják, nem adnak engem galambomnak" (English: "They say, they won't let me marry my love"). Shortly afterwards, Matúška and about two dozen other students left their prestigious Lutheran
lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the th ...
of
Pressburg
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...
(preparatory high school and college) in protest over the removal of
Ľudovít Štúr
Ľudovít Velislav Štúr (; hu, Stur Lajos; 28 October 1815 – 12 January 1856), known in his era as Ludevít Štúr, (pen names : B. Dunajský, Bedlivý Ludorob, Boleslav Záhorský, Brat Slovenska, Ein Slave, Ein ungarischer Slave, Karl Wi ...
from his teaching position by the Lutheran Church under pressure from the authorities. The territory of present-day Slovakia was part of
the Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
within the Austrian Empire then, and the officials
objected to his Slovak nationalism.
"Lightning over the Tatras" was written during the weeks when the students were agitated about the repeated denials of their and others' appeals to the school board to reverse Štúr's dismissal. About a dozen of the defecting students transferred to the Lutheran gymnasium of
Levoča
Levoča (; hu, Lőcse; rue, Левоча)
is a town in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,700. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the highest wooden altar in the wor ...
. When one of the students, the 18-year-old budding journalist and writer
Viliam Pauliny-Tóth, wrote down the oldest known record of the poem in his school notebook in 1844, he gave it the title of ''Prešporskí Slováci, budúci Levočania'' (Pressburg Slovaks, Future Levočians), which reflected the motivation of its origin.
The journey from Pressburg (present-day
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
) to Levoča took the students past the
High Tatras
The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a mountain range along the border of norther ...
, Slovakia's and the then
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
's highest, imposing, and symbolic mountain range. A storm above the mountains is a key theme in the poem.
Versions
No authorized version of Matúška's lyrics has been preserved and its early records remained without attribution. He stopped publishing after 1849 and later became clerk of the district court. The song became popular during the
Slovak Volunteer campaigns of 1848 and 1849. Its text was copied and recopied in hand before it appeared in print in 1851 (unattributed, as ''Dobrovoľnícka'' – Volunteer Song), which gave rise to some variation, namely concerning the phrase ''zastavme ich'' ("let's stop them") or ''zastavme sa'' ("let's stop"). A review of the extant copies and related literature inferred that Matúška's original was most likely to have contained "let's stop them." Among other documents, it occurred both in its oldest preserved handwritten record from 1844 and in its first printed version from 1851. The legislated Slovak national anthem uses this version, the other phrase was used before 1993.
National anthem
On 13 December 1918, only the first stanza of Janko Matúška's lyrics became half of the two-part bilingual
Czechoslovak
Czechoslovak may refer to:
*A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93)
**First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38)
**Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39)
**Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60)
**Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...
anthem, composed of the first stanza from a Czech operetta tune, ''
Kde domov můj
"" (; English: "Where My Home Is") is the national anthem of the Czech Republic, written by the composer František Škroup and the playwright Josef Kajetán Tyl.
History
The piece was written as a part of the incidental music to the come ...
'' (Where Is My Home?), and the first stanza of Matúška's song, each sung in its respective language and both played in that sequence with their respective tunes. The songs reflected the two nations' concerns in the 19th century when they were confronted with the already fervent national-ethnic activism of the
Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...
and the
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
, their fellow ethnic groups in the
Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
.
During the Second World War, "
Hej, Slováci
"Hey, Slavs" is a patriotic song dedicated to the Slavs which was used as the national anthem of various countries during the 20th century.
Its lyrics were first written in 1834 under the title "Hey, Slovaks" ("Hej, Slováci") by Samo Tomáš ...
" was adopted as the unofficial state anthem of the puppet regime
Slovak Republic
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
.
When
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
split into the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and the
Slovak Republic
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
in 1993, the second stanza was added to the first and the result legislated as Slovakia's national anthem.
Lyrics
![Janko Matúška](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Janko_Mat%C3%BA%C5%A1ka.jpg)
Only the first two stanzas have been legislated as the national anthem.
Poetics
One of the trends shared by many Slovak
Romantic poets
Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18t ...
was frequent
versification that imitated the patterns of the local folk songs. The additional impetus for Janko Matúška to embrace the trend in ''Lightning over the Tatras'' was that he actually designed it to replace the lyrics of an
existing folk song. Among the Romantic-folkloric features in the structure of ''Lightning over the Tatras'' are the equal number of syllables per verse, and the consistent a−b−b−a
disyllabic
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...
rhyming of verses 2-5 in each stanza. Leaving the first verses unrhymed was Matúška's license (a single matching sound, ''blýska—bratia'', did not qualify as a rhyme):
:— Nad Tatrou sa blýska
:a - Hromy divo bijú
:b - Zastavme ich bratia
:b - Veď sa ony stratia
:a - Slováci ožijú
Another traditional arrangement of Matúška's lines gives 4-verse stanzas rhymed a−b−b−a with the first verse made up of 12 syllables split by a mid-pause, and each of the remaining 3 verses made up of 6 syllables:
:a - Nad Tatrou sa blýska, hromy divo bijú
:b - Zastavme ich bratia
:b - Veď sa ony stratia
:a - Slováci ožijú
See also
*
Slovak nationalism
Slovak nationalism is an ethnic nationalist ideology that asserts that the Slovaks are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of the Slovaks.
History
Modern Slovak nationalism first arose in the 19th century in response to Magyarization of Slo ...
References
External links
Anthem of the Slovak Republic– A page at the official website of the
President of Slovakia
The president of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Prezident Slovenskej republiky) is the head of state of Slovakia and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The president is directly elected by the people for five years, and can be elected for ...
featuring various audio files of the state anthem
* Slovak National Anthem
sheet music, lyricsSlovakia: ''Nad Tatrou sa blýska'' - Audio of the national anthem of Slovakia, with information and lyricsarchive link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nad Tatrou sa blyska
European anthems
National symbols of Slovakia
Slovak songs
National anthems
Slovak Uprising of 1848–49
National anthem compositions in G minor