Music of the Czech Republic
Encyclopedia
Traditional and Classical
The traditional music of BohemiaBohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
and Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
has been well documented and influenced the work of composers like Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
, Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
, Bedřich Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
, and Bohuslav Martinů
Bohuslav Martinu
Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
. Janáček made his recordings at an auspicious time. The 1880s saw the decline of traditional music; however, Janáček brought a Moravian string band to the 1895 Ethnographical Exhibition in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, which led to increased feelings of national pride and identity, and a resurgence in traditional music.
Undoubtedly the most internationally famous dance is Bohemian polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
. Polka is a dance in duple time that became popular across Europe in the 19th century and spread across the world, influencing music from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Perhaps the most famous example is Škoda lásky ("Wasted Love") from 1927, world-known under the name Beer Barrel Polka
Beer Barrel Polka
Beer Barrel Polka, also known as Roll Out the Barrel, is a song which became popular worldwide during World War II. The music was composed by the Czech musician Jaromír Vejvoda in 1927. Eduard Ingriš wrote the first arrangement of the piece, after Vejvoda came upon the melody and sought Ingriš's...
. Czechs had a highly influential role in the development of Mexican cultural music. In the 1800's immigrants from Moravia were settling in the gulf coast area of Texas; many of them brought along polkas and waltzes which began to become popular with the Mexican people who lived among them. Love for these styles by the Mexican people later developed into Norteño
Norteño (music)
Norteño , also norteña or conjunto, is a genre of Mexican music. The accordion and the bajo sexto are norteño's most characteristic instruments. The norteño genre is popular in both Mexico and the United States, especially among the Mexican community...
and Tejano
Tejano music
Tejano music or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas...
.
Bohemian traditional music is most innovative in Chodsko, where bagpipes
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
are common. Moravian traditional music
Moravian traditional music
Moravian traditional music represents a part of the European musical culture connected with the regions around the western Carpathian Mountains. It is characterized by a specific melodic and harmonic texture related to the Eastern European musical world...
is best-known for the cimbalom, which is played in ensembles that also include double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s. The traditional music of the regions of Moravia displays foreign influences, especially in Valachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
which is tinged by Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n and Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
legacy and has close cultural relations with Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and Lachia (the borderland of northern Moravia and Czech Silesia
Czech Silesia
Czech Silesia is an unofficial name of one of the three Czech lands and a section of the Silesian historical region. It is located in the north-east of the Czech Republic, predominantly in the Moravian-Silesian Region, with a section in the northern Olomouc Region...
) with its Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
aspects.
Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
was well known for its pub songs called Staropražské písničky ("Old Prague Songs"), which are influenced by Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
schrammelmusik
Schrammelmusik
Schrammelmusik is a style of Viennese folk music originating in the late nineteenth century and still performed in present-day Austria. The style is named for the prolific folk composers Johann and Josef Schrammel.- The Schrammel brothers :...
and other forms. These songs are still played by bands like Šlapeto. A more modernized urban music is called tramp music (trampská hudba). Tramp music has been popular since its invention as part of the Czech tramping
Czech Tramping
Czech tramping or in Czech, simply, tramping, is a movement that combines a trajectory towards nature with imaginative play based on ideas of "Amerika." It manifests itself in distinctive clothing style and weekend and vacation trips, and even musical performance.Czech interest in "Amerika" dates...
movement that began when early 20th-century city-dwellers began seeking physical and imaginative respite from the pressures of urban life.
Bohemian Forest's music
Music in the Bohemian Forest has existed for many centuries. Long ago, music was linked with many different activities people used to do there. Since the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, people would sing during services, so it has been especially the Bohemian Forest’s church places where music was practiced. The first music memories found in this area come from the Cistercian monastery in Vyšší Brod
Vyšší Brod
Vyšší Brod is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 2,600 inhabitants and it's the southernmost municipality in the Czech Republic. There is Vyšší Brod Monastery, very important historic landmark.-External links:*...
(founded in 1259). Documents proving the creating of music in this area were found in its significant library. One of the most important documents is manuscript No. 42, from 1410. Here we can find a religious hymn called Jezu Kriste, ščedrý kněže ("Jesus Christ Bountiful Prince"), that people would sing during the preaching of the famous John Huss.
Since the development of towns in the 15th century, music started to play an important role in two of the Bohemian Forest’s centers: Prachatice
Prachatice
Prachatice is a town in the South Bohemian Region, Czech Republic.-History:The town of Prachatice has its origins in the 11th century, following the beginning of trade on the "Golden Path"...
and Sušice
Sušice
Sušice is a town in the Pilsen Region of the Czech Republic. It lies on the Otava River, some to the south of the regional capital of Pilsen.Sušice is also the seat of the Municipality with Extended Competence and with Commissioned Local Authority....
. From this region we know a man called Václav z Prachatic (Václav of Prachatice), who dealt with the theory of music at the Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
. His manuscript called Musica magistrii Johannis de Muris accurtata de musica Boethii can be found in the university library. This manuscript is a collective work on the theory of music and it is inspired by the thoughts of Johan de Muris, who worked in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Extensive musical activities in Prachatice took place in the second half of the 16th century, the century of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. There was a significant bloom of temple’s music in the temple of St. James. As a new form of music books are the hymn books. The most famous musical period in Prachatice was the period of literátská bratrstva ("men of letters brotherhoods"). Their main focus was community singing and they would perform it during ceremonial services. The brotherhood had its memorial book established in 1575, which described its activities until 1949, when the brotherhood perished. The Habsburg Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
in Bohemia after 1620 affected the Bohemian Forest as well. Catholic priests used to performed Gregorian chorals, but people used to sing spiritual songs, often based on the Protestant tradition. This ended in a new catholic edition of hymn books such as Capella regia musicallis and others.
The Czech classicism period is also available in Prachatice. There can be found works by František Xaver Brixi, Jan Křtitel Vaňhal, Augustin Šenkýř. Among the 18th and 19th century authors are Vincenc Mašek, Jan Jakub Ryba, Jan August Vitásek
Jan August Vitásek
Jan Matyáš Nepomuk August Vitásek was a Bohemian composer....
. In the 19th century a German and Austrian production also had its place here. The Czech work dominated in Sušice and Kašperské Hory
Kašperské Hory
Kašperské Hory is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It lies in the Šumava Range, some south of the region's capital of Plzeň....
. In the 19th century, a period of romanticism, the Bohemian Forest got a new format regarding Czech music. The founder of the Czech national music Bedřich Smetana was inspired by the Bohemian Forest while creating his symphonic poem Vltava. Antonín Dvořák was also inspired by the Bohemian Forest in his piece called Klid pro violoncello a orchestr.
Early Music Groups
Ars RedivivaArs Rediviva
Ars Rediviva was a Czech instrumental early music group, whose historically informed performances played a key role in the revival of Baroque music in Czechoslovakia.-Ars Rediviva chamber ensemble:...
was the first Czech chamber ensemble that specialized systematically in performance of Baroque music
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
respecting historically informed practice. It was established in 1951 by flutist and musical scientist Milan Munclinger
Milan Munclinger
Milan Munclinger was a significant Czech flautist, conductor, composer and musical scientist.-Biographical:...
.
Pop Music
English-speaking visitors listening to Czech radio may be surprised at the prevalence of familiar tunes, but with lyrics sung in Czech. These imported pop standards aside, rock and rollRock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
has taken over, often with influences and instrumentations taken from more traditional Czech styles.
Lately, the Czech Republic has been a breeding ground for punk, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and metal bands, some of which include brutal death
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
, goregrind
Goregrind
-History:Despite the early impact of albums such as Repulsion's Horrified and Impetigo's Ultimo Mondo Cannibale, the origins of the genre really lie with the British band Carcass, who began their career in the late 1980s...
, black
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
and similar styles of extreme metal.
The 1960s saw American bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
gain wide popularity, and the first European festival was held in 1972 (the Annual Banjo Jamboree in Kopidlno
Kopidlno
Kopidlno is a town in the Jičín District of the Czech Republic. It has a population of 2,238. Kopidlno lies between Jičín and Poděbrady, 80 kilometers from Prague.- History :...
). In 1964 and 1982, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
toured the country, inspiring generations of Czech bluegrass
Czech bluegrass
Czech Bluegrass is a term that describes Czech interpretations of the bluegrass genre of music that emerged during the middle of the twentieth century in the southeastern United States....
and American-style folk musicians. One notable example is the band Poutníci
Poutníci
Poutníci is a Czech bluegrass ensemble, heavily influential in the second wave of the genre.The group formed in 1970; its lead singer and bassist Jiri Pola has been with the group since 1981. In 1989 and 1990, the group was awarded the Best Non-American Bluegrass Record of the Year by the American...
, whose early success helped perpetuate bluegrass music in the Czech Republic. Many former members of Poutníci have recorded or toured with the band Druhá Tráva
Druhá Tráva
Druhá Tráva is a bluegrass band from the Czech Republic, formed in 1991 by Robert Křesťan. As of August 2005, they have released eighteen studio albums either as a group or as side projects....
, which has brought Czech bluegrass to the modern world music stage.
Pop
- Lucie BíláLucie BíláLucie Bílá is a Czech pop singer. With a powerful, distinctively intense voice and impressive range, she is one of the most famous and celebrated female artists in Czech Republic history...
- Věra BíláVera BíláVěra Bílá is a Romani musician and singer of Romani folk and pop songs. She is the lead singer of Kale, and has performed songs in Romani, Czech, and Slovak....
- Michal DavidMichal DavidMichal David , is a czech-pop music star. He is a successful Czech pop-singer, songwriter and producer and is one of the most popular, famous and influential artists in the Czecho-Slovakian Show-business nowadays.In his third -decade career Michal David has sold more than 3,5 million records,...
- Lenka DusilováLenka DusilováLenka Dusilová is a Czech Angel Award-winning singer-songwriter.-Career:Dusilová began her professional career in 1988, joining the world-renowned children's choir Bambini di Praga at the age of 13....
- Ewa FarnaEwa FarnaEwa Farna is a Polish pop rock singer from the Czech Republic. She was born in Třinec, and belongs to the Polish minority in the Czech Republic. Farna released three studio albums with Czech lyrics, which sold platinum in the Czech Republic and were later re-recorded and released with Polish lyrics...
- Iva FrühlingováIva FrühlingováIva Frühlingová is Czech female singer and model, famous in the Czech Republic and France. Despite her Czech descent she sings mostly in French.- Biography :...
- Karel GottKarel GottKarel Gott is a Czech Schlager singer, and an amateur painter. He is considered as the most successful male singer in former Czechoslovakia and currently in the Czech Republic; he has being voted the Most Favorite Male Singer in the annual national pool Český slavík in total thirty-six times...
- Markéta IrglováMarkéta IrglováMarkéta Irglová is a Czech songwriter, musician, actress, and singer. As of 2010, she resides in New York City.-Early life:...
- Tomas KalnokyTomas KalnokyTomas Kalnoky is a Czech-born American musician. He is the lead singer/guitarist and songwriter of the bands Streetlight Manifesto and Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, and goes by the pseudonym Toh Kay as a solo performer...
- Tereza KerndlováTereza KerndlováTereza Kerndlová is a singer in the Czech Republic. She rose to fame as a member of the trio Black Milk since 2001...
- David Koller
- Marta KubišováMarta KubišováMarta Kubišová is a Czech singer of iconic significance. By the time of the Prague Spring of 1968, with her song "Modlitba pro Martu" , she was one of the most popular female singers in Czechoslovakia.In 1967 she won Zlatý slavík award...
- Waldemar MatuškaWaldemar MatuškaWaldemar Matuška was a Czech singer who became popular in his homeland during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1986, he emigrated to the United States.-Early career:...
- Ivan MládekIvan MládekIvan Mládek is a Czech songwriter, composer, and comedian.-Biography:Ivan Mládek was born in Prague, where he spent most of his childhood. His father, a lawyer and painter, taught him to paint, but he preferred music and started his now-famous Banjo Band.The Banjo Band first performed in 1966...
- Petr MukPetr MukPetr Muk was a Czech pop musician, composer and performer, famous in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In addition to his albums of original songs, he released a tribute EP to the English band Erasure in 2004...
- Václav Neckář
- Petr NovákPetr NovákPetr Novák , was a Czech rock musician. He's best known for his romantic Beatles inspired pop songs with his bands George and Beatovens and Flamengo in the late 60s.-Biography:...
- Milan SmrčkaMilan SmrckaMilan Smrčka, more known as Záviš, is a Czech singer, guitarist and poet. He was born in 1956 in Znojmo. His work is most often classified as pornofolk...
- Pavel VítekPavel VitekPavel Vítek is a Czech singer and actor.He performed in the musicals Les Misérables , Miss Saigon , Grease , and in the play Romeo and Juliet ....
- Helena VondráčkováHelena VondráckováHelena Vondráčková is a Czech singer whose career has spanned five decades.- Early life/career :Vondráčková spent her childhood years in the town of Slatinany. She took piano lessons from an early age...
- Lucie VondráčkováLucie VondráckováLucie Vondráčková is a Czech singer and actress. She is the niece of Czech singer Helena Vondráčková. She played in Czech Lion award-winning film Snowboarďáci. She also gained considerable fame as a pop-singer in the Czech Republic especially for her song Strach.Lucie Vondrácková comes from a...
- Hana ZagorováHana ZagorováHana Zagorová is a Czech female singer who has been recording since 1964. She has written the lyrics to around fifty of her recorded songs. Nine times she was listed number one in the national Zlaty Slavík popularity chart.Since 1992 she has been married to opera singer Štefan...
- Karel ZichKarel ZichKarel Zich was a Czech singer, guitarist and composer.- Life :Karel Zich was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, into a musical family. His grandfather was Otakar Zich, composer and professor of music aesthetics, and his uncle was the composer Jaroslav Zich...
- Deborah Kahl
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Pop-Rock
- ButyButyButy is a Czech music group, originally from Ostrava, formed in 1986 by Richard Kroczek and Radek Pastrňák.The founding members were soon joined by Vít Kučaj, Ivan Myslikovjan and Luděk Piásečný...
- Chinaski
- Kryštof
- Lucie
- Mig 21
- Mňága a Žďorp
- Ready Kirken
- Support LesbiensSupport LesbiensSupport Lesbiens is a Czech musical group. It was founded in 1992. Their single "Cliché" was the first single by a Czech English-singing group to reach number one in an official radio chart IFPI....
- Memphis
- Tata BojsTata BojsTata Bojs are a Czech pop rock band, formed in 1988 by bass-player Mardoša and drummer/singer Milan Cais. Current line-up of the band includes guitarist Vladimír Bár, producer Dušan Neuwerth on guitar and Jiří Hradil on piano and keyboards.- Albums :...
- Wanastowi Vjecy
- Divokej BillDivokej BillDivokej Bill is a Czech folk-rock band from Úvaly near Prague. The band take their name from Wild Bill Hickok and blend some country music influences with their punk rock, folk and alternative rock sounds....
- PriessnitzPriessnitzPriessnitz may refer to:* Vincenz Priessnitz , a pioneer of hydrotherapy* Priessnitz , a rock band from the Czech Republic* Prießnitz, a municipality in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany...
- 100°C
- Aneta LangerováAneta LangerováAneta Langerová is a Czech pop singer. She first rose to fame at age 17 as the first winner of Česko hledá SuperStar, the Czech version of Pop Idol, in June 2004 and later that year released her first album, Spousta andělů, which would go on to become the best-selling record in Czech music history...
- Anna K.
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Songwriters
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Rock
Metal
Punk-Rock
Underground
Alternative
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Jazz & BluesSee also Jazz in dissident CzechoslovakiaJazz in dissident Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia’s jazz roots were established by Jaroslav Ježek and Rudolf Antonín Dvorský in the 1920s and 1930s. Ježek’s influence in this realm is particularly noted and by the time he immigrated to the United States in 1939, his compositions blending jazz and classical music were among the most...
Bluegrass
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Military Bands
The Central Band of the Army of the Czech Republic, the Military bandMilitary band
A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...
of Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
and other military bands are part of the Czech Armed Forces.