Janko Matúška was born into a craftsman's family in Dolný Kubín, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary.

[1] He began to attend school there, then probably at the Gymnázium of Gemer (Sajógömör) and finally he studied at the prestigious Lutheran Lyceum of Pressburg (preparatory high school and college) where he took courses in the Institute of Czechoslovak Language and Literature while majoring in theology.

Ľudovít Štúr, the only professor teaching courses offered by the institute at that time, was fired in December 1843 under pressure from the kingdom's authorities, who objected to his pro-Slovak activism.

23-year-old Janko Matúška wrote "Lightning over the Tatras" when he and other students were agitated about the subsequent repeated denials of their appeals to the school board to reverse Štúr's dismissal.

[2] About two dozen students, including Matúška, decided to leave the lýceum in protest in March 1844.