Accordingly the work draws on traditions of Central-European Christmas pastoral music and dramatizes the nativity through characters representative of the Czech countryside.

[1][2] 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.

Although Ryba created more than 1,000 compositions, his Czech Christmas Mass remains one of the few works by him performed regularly to date.

The mass contains characteristic short melodic motifs inspired by the folk music, supported by colorful rhythms.

The mass consists of nine parts: The original instrumentation of the work was 4 soli, choir, organ, flute, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, clarion (klarina; trumpet), 2 violins, viola, violon-double bass and timpani.