"Jakub Jan Ryba is wrongly regarded as a composer of only one piece: the czech christmas Mass, without which today it is impossible to imagine czech christmas. His legacy as a composer, however, is much more diverse than anyone could think. It reflects the richness of Ryba’s multifaceted talent, stemming in part from his conscious conceptual thinking but at the same time wholly imbued with spiritual charge with which Ryba, a deeply religious man, endowed all his works.
His musical talent, creative powers, congenital diligence and resilience predetermined him for the career of a professional musician and successful composer – but his fate, or, if you prefer, God led him in a somewhat different direction. And so this versatile artist inspired by the Muses, a composer, poet and philosopher, ended up in the rural town of Rožmitál pod Třemšínem, where he dutifully performed his job as a teacher. However, the sound of music in his heart did not fade away – quite the contrary. He put his talent mainly in the service of church music, writing compositions for the choir of Rožmitál which abound in fresh inventiveness and ability, through musical language, to convey christian messages and mysteries to the common people.
There is no way for us to know whether Ryba realized the extent of his musical talent and how much he suffered from narrow-mindedness in his social environment, which did not allow him to develop it fully. What we do know is that being a responsible man, he did not neglect any of the duties entrusted to him. As a consequence he often found himself on edge, both mentally and physically exhausted. This further aggravated his constant struggle for recognition, understanding, and often mere existence. The pressure of adverse circumstances, combined with the fragile psyche of the sensitive man and artist, eventually led him to the last resolution in his life, that of dying by his own hand.
Thus tragically ended the life of the Renaissance artist Jakub Jan Ryba, who was never allowed even to touch the worldly success his talent deserved. However, the music he left behind is full of immeasurable spiritual riches, and its permanent value still powerfully speaks to us today." (Zdeněk Klauda)
