violin, viola (1943-1955), *1923 †1997

He was born on January 12, 1923 in Bojanov near Chrudim. He spent his childhood in very modest conditions. He had two sisters who did not pursue music, but his brother became a professional cellist. Their father was an amateur musician, so he easily recognized the talent of his son. With the help of local teachers, little Jaroslav was allowed training at the Břevnov Monastery in Prague. He was preparing for the Archbishop’s Gymnasium to become a priest. Shortly thereafter, he needed higher musical education. Therefore, Professor Josef Micka prepared him for two years for entry into the conservatory, where he studied during 1943-6. At the same time, he became acquainted with the future members of the Smetana Quartet. Initially, he joined the quartet as a second violinist after Josef Vlach, who was conscripted in 1943. In the same year, they had their first performance under the name Chamber Ensemble of the Music Conservatory at the City Library in Prague on September 28, 1943. Two years later, the quartet appeared with Jaroslav Rybenský as first violin, Lubomír Kostecký as second violin, Václav Neumann on viola and Antonín Kohout on cello. They made their debut at the historically dated first independent concert of the future Smetana Quartet in the large hall of the City Library in Prague on November 6, 1945.

In 1947, Václav Neumann decided to leave the quartet to pursue a career as a conductor, leading to discussions within the quartet about its new line-up. When Jiří Novák joined as the first violinist, Jaroslav moved to the viola. He had to study the existing quartet repertoire. At the same time, he continued his studies at the Academy under Professor František Daniel. Subsequently, he studied with the famous violist of the Ševčík Quartet, Professor Karel Moravec, completing his studies on June 26, 1952. He performed Handel’s viola concerto in B minor with the Czech Philharmonic under the baton of Karel Ančerl. During the same time, he became an employee of the Czech Philharmonic as a violist in the Smetana Quartet from May 1, 1951, to June 30, 1956.

In April 1955, Rybenský had the opportunity to play Bartók solo at the Gewandhaus at the invitation of conductor Konwitchný, who also invited the entire quartet. In that year, he had to say goodbye to the quartet due to back and hand pains. Surely it was a very difficult decision to leave the quartet after thirteen years at a time when it had finally reached the limelight. It certainly affected him for a long time. Likely he regretted his cruel fate for the rest of his life. After leaving the quartet, a year of treatment followed. From July 1, 1956, to April 16, 1958, he found employment in the Czech Philharmonic as a violinist. The following year, on April 14, he became an employee of the North Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Teplice, where he stayed until April 14, 1959. He tried to stay in shape so he could occasionally play solo and in chamber ensembles. During this time, he met his second fateful wife, the timpanist of this orchestra, with whom he shared both good and bad moments until the end of his life.

He joined the viola section of the Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague FOK (8th April 1961 – 7th January 1965). At that time, Dr. Václav Smetáček was the director of FOK. He briefly joined the viola section as a concertmaster at the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava (8th January – 16th June 1965). After an audition, he returned to Teplice as the deputy concertmaster (10th July 1965 – 27th August 1967). He joined the Krušnohorské divadlo on 25th August 1967 and left on 31st May 1968. During this time, he continued to suffer from back pain, which he alleviated with alcohol. For these reasons, he frequently changed his work locations. He had two separate periods at the Zdeněk Nejedlý Theatre in Ústí nad Labem (9th January 1969 – 30th November 1969 and 1st June 1970 – 31st July 1975). In the meantime, he served as the leader of the second violins in the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra (1st December 1969 – 31st May 1970).
On September 1, 1975, he committed to perform pedagogical work at the Teplice Conservatory.
as a professor of violin and chamber music. He ended his activity on 1st September 1988.

He died in Teplice on February 20, 1997 after a serious illness at the age of 72.

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