It was one ofCzechoslovakia'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 thedissolution of Czechoslovakia.
Twenty-three-year-oldJanko Matúška wrote the lyrics of "Nad Tatrou sa blýska" in January and February 1844. The tune came from the folk song "Kopala studienku" (English:"She was digging a well") suggested to him by his fellow student Jozef Podhradský,[1] a future religious andPan-Slavic activist andgymnasial teacher,[2] when Matúška and about two dozen other students left their prestigious Lutheranlyceum ofPressburg (preparatory high school and college) in protest over the removal ofĽudovít Štúr from his teaching position by the Lutheran Church under pressure from the authorities. The territory of present-day Slovakia was part ofthe Kingdom of Hungary within the Austrian Empire then, and the officialsobjected 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 ofLevoča.[3] 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 ofPrešporskí Slováci, budúci Levočania (Pressburg Slovaks, Future Levočians), which reflected the motivation of its origin.[4]
The journey from Pressburg (present-dayBratislava) to Levoča took the students past theHigh Tatras, Slovakia's and the thenKingdom of Hungary's highest, imposing, and symbolic mountain range. A storm above the mountains is a key theme in the poem.
No authorized version of Matúška's lyrics has been preserved and its early records remained without attribution.[5] He stopped publishing after 1849 and later became clerk of the district court.[6] The song became popular during theSlovak Volunteer campaigns of 1848 and 1849.[7] Its text was copied and recopied in hand before it appeared in print in 1851 (unattributed, asDobrovoľnícka – Volunteer Song),[8] which gave rise to some variation, namely concerning the phrasezastavme ich ("let's stop them")[9] orzastavme sa ("let's stop").[10] 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.[11] The legislated Slovak national anthem uses this version, the other phrase was used from 1920 to 1993 (as the second part of the anthem ofCzechoslovakia withKde domov můj).
On January 1, 2025 at midnight, the public broadcasterSlovak Television and Radio first introduced the a partially revised version of its national anthem. This updated rendition features a modernized melody and a slightly slower tempo. Notably, the new arrangement includes the sound of thefujara, a traditional Slovak folk instrument, in the final seconds of the melody. The arrangement was overseen by Oskar Rózsa and his musical assembly.[12] Public opinion on the change remains divided. While some have welcomed the modernization of the anthem, others question the necessity and quality of the revision as well as the procedural aspects of the change. Critics pointed out that the revision of national anthem should have taken place through an open competition and not assigned directly to Rózsa, who has embraced extreme right-wing talking points and conspiracy theories held by the culture ministerMartina Šimkovičová and her head of cabinet Lukáš Machala. Additionally, the comments by Rózsa, who in response to criticism claimed his version of the anthem was not for liberals, who should "crawl into their holes" as their time in Slovakia was ending were met with widespread condemnation.[13] Additionally, the new version of the anthem was poorly received by critics who labeled it a "kitch" and "sad funeral music".[14] Finally, critics argue that the cost of revision, which amounted to approximately €50,000, was too large and that these funds could have been better allocated to sectors such as education or healthcare.[15]
A prodigious view of the Tatras as they may have appeared to Matúška's rebellious friends
On 13 December 1918, only the first stanza of Janko Matúška's lyrics became half of the two-part bilingualCzechoslovak anthem, composed of the first stanza from a Czech operetta tune,Kde domov můj (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.[16] The songs reflected the two nations' concerns in the 19th century[17] when they were confronted with the already fervent national-ethnic activism of theHungarians and theGermans, their fellow ethnic groups in theHabsburg monarchy.
During the Second World War, "Hej, Slováci" was adopted as the unofficial state anthem of the puppet regimeSlovak Republic.
Janko Matúška, the author of the Slovak national anthem
One of the trends shared by many SlovakRomantic poets was frequentversification that imitated the patterns of the local folk songs.[22] The additional impetus for Janko Matúška to embrace the trend inLightning over the Tatras was that he actually designed it to replace the lyrics of anexisting folk song. Among the Romantic-folkloric features in the structure ofLightning over the Tatras are the equal number of syllables per verse, and the consistent a−b−b−adisyllabic 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:[23]
^abThe standard meaning ofsláva is "glory" or "fame". The figurative meaning, first used byJán Kollár in the monumental poemThe Daughter Of Sláva in 1824,[21] is "Goddess/Mother of theSlavs".
^abTheidiomaticsimile "like a fir" (ako jedľa) was applied to men in a variety of positive meanings: "stand tall," "have a handsome figure," "be tall and brawny," etc.
^abSee the article onKriváň for the mountain's symbolism.
^Brtáň, Rudo (1971).Postavy slovenskej literatúry.
^Buchta, Vladimír (1983). "Jozef Podhradský - autor prvého pravoslávneho katechizmu pre Čechov a Slovákov".Pravoslavný teologický sborník (10).
^Sojková, Zdenka (2005).Knížka o životě Ľudovíta Štúra.
^Brtáň, Rudo (1971). "Vznik piesne Nad Tatrou sa blýska".Slovenské pohľady.
^Cornis-Pope, Marcel; John Neubauer (2004).History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
^Čepan, Oskár (1958).Dejiny slovenskej literatúry.
^Sloboda, Ján (1971).Slovenská jar: slovenské povstanie 1848-49.
^Klofáč, Václav (1918-12-21). "Výnos ministra národní obrany č. 4580, 13. prosince 1918".Osobní věstník ministerstva Národní obrany.1.
^Auer, Stefan (2004).Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe.
^National Council of the Slovak Republic (1 September 1992). "Law 460/1992, Zbierka zákonov. Paragraph 4, Article 9, Chapter 1".Constitution of the Slovak Republic.
^National Council of the Slovak Republic (18 February 1993). "Law 63/1993, Zbierka zákonov. Section 1, Paragraph 13, Part 18".Law on National Symbols of the Slovak Republic and Their Use.
