A country of ten million produced four composers who changed classical music. Where their work came from, and where to hear it.
Czech music punches so far above its weight that it distorts the picture: four composers of genuine international rank from a small, occupied country, all within a century. What links them is that each built a national musical language out of folk material at a time when doing so was a political act.
Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884)
The founder. Má vlast (My Homeland) is a cycle of six symphonic poems; its second movement, Vltava, follows the river from two springs to Prague and is the most recognisable piece of Czech music ever written. Smetana composed most of it after going completely deaf.
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
A butcher’s son from a village north of Prague who became the most internationally successful Czech composer. He spent three years directing a conservatory in New York, where he wrote the New World Symphony — music later carried to the moon on Apollo 11.
Leoš Janáček (1854–1928)
The strangest and most modern of the four. He notated the melodies of ordinary Czech speech and built his operas from them, which is why Jenůfa and The Cunning Little Vixen sound like nothing else. Most of his great work came after he turned sixty.
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Prolific, restless, and exiled by the war. Nearly 400 works, written across Paris, New York and Switzerland — he never returned home.
Where to hear them
The Rudolfinum is home to the Czech Philharmonic; the Municipal House hosts the Prague Symphony. Má vlast traditionally opens the Prague Spring festival each 12 May, on the anniversary of Smetana’s death.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which piece should I listen to first?
Vltava by Smetana — twelve minutes, and you will recognise the main theme immediately.
Where can I hear classical music in Prague?
The Rudolfinum and the Municipal House for orchestras; church concerts run nightly and are cheaper.
Is Dvořák buried in Prague?
Yes, at Vyšehrad cemetery, along with Smetana and much of the Czech cultural canon.
Read more: classical concerts in Prague, the Prague Spring festival and Vyšehrad.
Last reviewed in August 2026.
