Czech
Republic became a separate state alongside the Slovak Republic
in 1992, after the break-up of Czechoslovakia, which was a Soviet communist
satellite state since 1948. In earlier centuries, Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia
were the main countries in what is now the Czech Republic, but then were part of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ruled from Vienna by the Hapsburg dynasty.
In
the 18th century, enormous numbers of able musicians and composers left Bohemia
and Moravia to work in Vienna, or in other capital cities of Europe. In the 19th
century, a growing nationalism attracted native composers to stay in their own
country, and institutions such as the Prague Conservatory of Music were founded.
In 1890, Dvorak taught at the Prague
Conservatory. Smetana was another
famous Czech composer with very strong nationalist feelings expressed in his
music, as in Ma Vlast - My Country. Another Czech,