Jakub Jan Ryba

Jakub Šimon Jan Ryba (surname also Poisson, Peace, Ryballandini, Rybaville; 26 October 1765 – 8 April 1815) was a Czech teacher and composer of classical music. His most famous work is Czech Christmas Mass "Hey, Master!" (Česká mše vánoční "Hej mistře!").

Ryba was born in Přeštice near Plzeň. His father was a schoolteacher, which was a very poorly paid occupation at the time. In 1780 Ryba went to Prague, where he studied at the Piarist gymnasium. His teacher Cassianus Hanel taught him music. Ryba was a very good student and he soon started to compose. He dreamt of being a famous composer. In 1784 his father ordered him to work as a teacher in Nepomuk. Ryba reluctantly obeyed, but he was soon fired. After wandering for a few months, he received a message that his mother had died. After a long illness, he moved to Mníšek pod Brdy. Being popular among local inhabitants for performing music, he was quite happy there, but after some hesitation he accepted a schoolteacher position in Rožmitál pod Třemšínem.

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, meaning "Christ's Mass") is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed most commonly on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is prepared for by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night; in some traditions, Christmastide includes an Octave. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated culturally by a large number of non-Christian people, and is an integral part of the holiday season, while some Christian groups reject the celebration. In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family.

Czech Christmas Mass

Czech Christmas Mass (Czech: Česká mše vánoční; Latin: Missa solemnis Festis Nativitatis D. J. Ch. accommodata in linguam bohemicam musikamque redacta – que redacta per Jac. Joa. Ryba) is a classic pastoral mass written by the Czech composer Jakub Jan Ryba in 1796. Because of its opening words, it is also known as Hail, Master! or Hey, Master! (in Czech: Hej, mistře!). Czech Christmas Mass was composed in a frame of traditional Latin mass (with parts Kyrie, Gloria etc.), the story is based on Christian theme of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Despite this, the work has a rather pastoral character with emphasis on a Czech description of the nativity in a Czech setting. During the centuries, the composition became the most popular Christmas mass in Czech countries and one of the musical symbols of Czech Christmas.

Background

Ryba composed his most famous work in 1796, a year after he managed to resolve a dispute over his teaching methods with the priest Kašpar Zachar. He wrote the music to his own Czech libretto; It was his only mass composed to the Czech text. Ryba did not record this mass in his list of compositions created from 1782 to 1798; he mentioned only "seven pastoral masses, one of them in the Czech language". The autograph manuscript was lost; today only the title page is preserved intact. Some parts of the composition were performed separately as pastorales and the text gradually adapted with changes in the Czech language. Though Ryba created more than 1,000 compositions, Czech Christmas Mass remains one of the few works performed regularly to date.