Donald Sur
Encyclopedia
Donald Young Sur was a Korean-American composer and musicologist. Although he is best known for his large-scale oratorio
, Slavery Documents, most of his works were composed for small chamber ensembles. Sur was born in Honolulu and moved with his family to Los Angeles after World War II. He studied at the University of California and Princeton
before spending four years in Korea researching ancient Korean court music
. After receiving his doctorate from Harvard in 1972, he settled in Boston, Massachusetts where many of his works were premiered and where he taught in several of the area's universities, including Harvard, MIT, and Tufts.
in 1935 to parents of Korean descent. His paternal grandfather had emigrated to Hawaii to work in the sugar cane plantations in 1903. His mother was a Korean picture bride
. The first instrument he learned to play as a child was the ukelele, the second was the mandolin
, which remained his favorite instrument throughout his life and figures in several of his scores. Sur's family moved to the mainland United States in 1951 and eventually settled in Los Angeles. He studied ethnomusicology
for a year at UCLA as an undergraduate before transferring to Berkeley where he studied with Andrew Imbrie
, Seymour Shifrin, and Colin McPhee
who taught him Balinese
composition techniques. Following post-graduate work at Princeton
with Roger Sessions
and Earl Kim
, he spent four years in Korea (1964-1968) doing research on Korean court music
. On his return from Korea in 1968, he continued his post-graduate studies at Harvard University
where he received his PhD. in composition in 1972 with The Sleepwalker's Ballad, "an accompanied recitative
for soprano and chamber ensemble".
After graduating from Harvard, he remained based in the Boston area
for the rest of his life combining his career as a composer with teaching at Harvard, MIT
, Tufts, Wellesley and Boston University
and for a while running a small publishing company for composers of new music as well as organizing concerts of their works with John Harbison
. March 1990 saw the world premiere at Symphony Hall, Boston
of Sur's most famous work, Slavery Documents, an oratorio
for 80 voices with a libretto
by the composer. His last works were Berceuse, a lullaby
for violin and piano which premiered at the Library of Congress
in February 1999 and an a cappella
setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 97
, which premiered at Boston's Jordan Hall
in May 1999, three weeks before Sur's death from cancer at the age of 64. In 2008, John Harbison, who described his friend as having "a unique ear for the incantatory power of percussion instruments", composed Cortège for six percussionists: In memoriam Donald Sur as a tribute to him.
. He often used non-conventional instruments in his scores including bongo drum
s, Korean trumpets
and even a skillet, conch shell
, and bullwhip
. Two of his works were on explicitly Korean themes: his 1991 Lacrimosa Dies Illa (Day of Tears) for chamber orchestra commemorating the March 1919 Korean uprising
against Japanese rule; and his 1993 Kumdori Tansaeng (Birth of the Dream-Elf) for solo violin, chorus, and orchestra commissioned by the Taejon International Exposition
for Korean-American violinist Sarah Chang
. He also composed the score for Dai Sil Kim-Gibson's 1999 film, Silence Broken, a documentary about the Korean "comfort women
" of World War II.
Sur's other principal compostions were:
This was the first (and as of 2011) only commerical recording of Sur's music. It contains Red Dust; Catena I, II, and III; The Unicorn and the Lady; Berceuse; Satori on Park Avenue; and A Neo-Plastic Epistrophe While Crossing Times Square.
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
, Slavery Documents, most of his works were composed for small chamber ensembles. Sur was born in Honolulu and moved with his family to Los Angeles after World War II. He studied at the University of California and Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
before spending four years in Korea researching ancient Korean court music
Korean court music
Korean court music refers to the music developed in the Joseon Dynasty . Very little is known about the court music of earlier Korean kingdoms and dynasties.It was partly modeled on the court music of China, known as yayue...
. After receiving his doctorate from Harvard in 1972, he settled in Boston, Massachusetts where many of his works were premiered and where he taught in several of the area's universities, including Harvard, MIT, and Tufts.
Life and career
Donald Sur was born in Honolulu, HawaiiHonolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
in 1935 to parents of Korean descent. His paternal grandfather had emigrated to Hawaii to work in the sugar cane plantations in 1903. His mother was a Korean picture bride
Picture bride
The term picture bride refers to the practice in the early 20th century of immigrant workers in Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States selecting brides from their native countries via a matchmaker, who paired bride and groom using only photographs and family recommendations of the possible...
. The first instrument he learned to play as a child was the ukelele, the second was the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, which remained his favorite instrument throughout his life and figures in several of his scores. Sur's family moved to the mainland United States in 1951 and eventually settled in Los Angeles. He studied ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
for a year at UCLA as an undergraduate before transferring to Berkeley where he studied with Andrew Imbrie
Andrew Imbrie
Andrew Welsh Imbrie was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Career:Imbrie was born in New York on April 6, 1921, and began his musical training as a pianist when he was 4. In 1937, he went to Paris to study briefly with Nadia Boulanger...
, Seymour Shifrin, and Colin McPhee
Colin McPhee
Colin McPhee was a Canadian composer and musicologist. He is primarily known for being the first Western composer to make an ethnomusicological study of Bali, and for the quality of that work...
who taught him Balinese
Music of Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island that shares in the gamelan and various other Indonesian musical styles. Bali, however, has its own techniques and styles, including kecak, a form of singing that imitates the sound of monkeys...
composition techniques. Following post-graduate work at Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
with Roger Sessions
Roger Sessions
Roger Huntington Sessions was an American composer, critic, and teacher of music.-Life:Sessions was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a family that could trace its roots back to the American revolution. His mother, Ruth Huntington Sessions, was a direct descendent of Samuel Huntington, a signer of...
and Earl Kim
Earl Kim
Earl Kim was a Korean-American composer.Kim was born in Dinuba, California, to immigrant Korean parents. He began piano studies at age ten and soon developed an interest in composition, studying in Los Angeles and Berkeley with, among others, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernest Bloch, and Roger Sessions...
, he spent four years in Korea (1964-1968) doing research on Korean court music
Korean court music
Korean court music refers to the music developed in the Joseon Dynasty . Very little is known about the court music of earlier Korean kingdoms and dynasties.It was partly modeled on the court music of China, known as yayue...
. On his return from Korea in 1968, he continued his post-graduate studies at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
where he received his PhD. in composition in 1972 with The Sleepwalker's Ballad, "an accompanied recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
for soprano and chamber ensemble".
After graduating from Harvard, he remained based in the Boston area
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan statistical area of Boston and that of the city's combined statistical area which includes...
for the rest of his life combining his career as a composer with teaching at Harvard, MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, Tufts, Wellesley and Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
and for a while running a small publishing company for composers of new music as well as organizing concerts of their works with John Harbison
John Harbison
John Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
. March 1990 saw the world premiere at Symphony Hall, Boston
Symphony Hall, Boston
Symphony Hall is a concert hall located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by McKim, Mead and White, it was built in 1900 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which continues to make the hall its home. The hall was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1999...
of Sur's most famous work, Slavery Documents, an oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
for 80 voices with a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by the composer. His last works were Berceuse, a lullaby
Lullaby
A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to young children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process. As a result they are often simple and repetitive. Lullabies can be found in every culture and since the ancient period....
for violin and piano which premiered at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
in February 1999 and an a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 97
Sonnet 97
Sonnet 97 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man. It is the first of three sonnets describing a separation between the speaker and the...
, which premiered at Boston's Jordan Hall
Jordan Hall
Jordan Hall is a 1,019-seat concert hall in Boston, Massachusetts, the principal performance space of the New England Conservatory. It is one block from Boston's Symphony Hall, and together they are considered two of America's most acoustically perfect performance spaces...
in May 1999, three weeks before Sur's death from cancer at the age of 64. In 2008, John Harbison, who described his friend as having "a unique ear for the incantatory power of percussion instruments", composed Cortège for six percussionists: In memoriam Donald Sur as a tribute to him.
Compositions
Sur's musical style has been described as uniquely personal, "eclectic", and "unpredictable" and ranged from minimalist to tonalTonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
. He often used non-conventional instruments in his scores including bongo drum
Bongo drum
Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
s, Korean trumpets
Nabal (instrument)
The nabal is a long, straight brass horn used in Korean traditional music. As the instrument has no valves or finger holes it is not a melodic instrument but rather plays a single sustained tone...
and even a skillet, conch shell
Conch
A conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....
, and bullwhip
Bullwhip
A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a tool for working with livestock.Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country...
. Two of his works were on explicitly Korean themes: his 1991 Lacrimosa Dies Illa (Day of Tears) for chamber orchestra commemorating the March 1919 Korean uprising
March 1st Movement
The March 1st Movement, or Samil Movement, was one of the earliest public displays of Korean resistance during the occupation of the Korean Empire by Japan. The name refers to an event that occurred on March 1, 1919, hence the movement's name, literally meaning "Three-One Movement" or "March First...
against Japanese rule; and his 1993 Kumdori Tansaeng (Birth of the Dream-Elf) for solo violin, chorus, and orchestra commissioned by the Taejon International Exposition
Taejon Expo '93
Taejon Expo '93 was a three-month international exposition held between Saturday, August 7, 1993 and Sunday, November 7, 1993 in the central South Korean city of Daejeon .-Theme:...
for Korean-American violinist Sarah Chang
Sarah Chang
Sarah Chang is a Korean American violinist. Her debut came in 1989 with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shortly thereafter, Chang was recognized as a child prodigy. She enrolled at Juilliard School to study music, graduating in 1999 and continuing university studies...
. He also composed the score for Dai Sil Kim-Gibson's 1999 film, Silence Broken, a documentary about the Korean "comfort women
Comfort women
The term "comfort women" was a euphemism used to describe women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 from some Japanese scholars to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese...
" of World War II.
Sur's other principal compostions were:
- Catena I, II, and III, for small ensemble (1961; Catena I revised 1970, Catena II revised 1962, Catena III revised 1976). Also known as The Book of Catenas, they were performed together for the first time by Collage New MusicCollage New MusicCollage New Music is a classical music ensemble specialising in performance of works by 20th and 21st century composers. It was founded in 1972 by percussionist Frank Epstein who served as its Music Director until 1991. Since that time its Director has been the conductor David Hoose.-The...
. - Sleepwalker's Ballad, for soprano and chamber ensemble (1972). Composed for Sur's doctoral dissertation at Harvard and set to a text by Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, the work was premiered by soprano Bethany BeardsleeBethany BeardsleeBethany Beardslee is an American soprano particularly noted for her performances of contemporary classical music....
and the Speculum Musicae ensemble conducted by Charles WuorinenCharles WuorinenCharles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
. - Red Dust, for 29 percussionists (1967; revised for Western percussion in 1976). The work is based on classical Korean percussion and although lasting only 13 minutes, is divided into 20 movementMovement (music)A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...
s. - Il Tango di Trastevere, for four contrabassContrabassContrabass refers to a musical instrument of very low pitch; generally those pitched one octave below instruments of the bass register...
es (1977). The work was later orchestrated by Sur for an orchestra of low-pitched instruments. - A Neo-Plastic Epistrophe While Crossing Times Square, for piano trioPiano trioA piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
and clarinet (1980). It was premiered by Collage New Music. - The Unicorn and the Lady, for narrator and small ensemble (1981). The work was inspired by 18th century hunting calls and The Hunt of the UnicornThe Hunt of the UnicornThe Hunt of the Unicorn, often referred to as the Unicorn Tapestries, is a series of seven tapestries dating from 1495–1505. The tapestries show a group of noblemen and hunters in pursuit of a unicorn. It is believed the tapestries were made in the Southern Netherlands.-Production:The...
tapestries in The CloistersThe CloistersThe Cloisters is a museum located in Fort Tryon Park, New York City. The building, which is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was reconstructed in the 1930s from the architectural elements of several European medieval abbeys...
museum. Each of its 12 movements is scored for a different combination of instruments. - Satori on Park Avenue, for small ensemble (1984). Commissioned by the National Endowment of the Arts for Speculum Musicae and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the work is dedicated to Sur's long-time friend, John HarbisonJohn HarbisonJohn Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
. - Sonnet 97, for a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
chorus (1999). A setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 97Sonnet 97Sonnet 97 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man. It is the first of three sonnets describing a separation between the speaker and the...
, the work was premiered by the Cantata SingersCantata Singers and EnsembleThe Cantata Singers and Ensemble is a professional volunteer choir and professional orchestral ensemble located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1964 to perform and preserve the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach , the group has since expanded its scope to include repertoire from the 17th...
in Boston's Jordan HallJordan HallJordan Hall is a 1,019-seat concert hall in Boston, Massachusetts, the principal performance space of the New England Conservatory. It is one block from Boston's Symphony Hall, and together they are considered two of America's most acoustically perfect performance spaces...
on 7 May 1999. - Berceuse (LullabyLullabyA lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to young children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process. As a result they are often simple and repetitive. Lullabies can be found in every culture and since the ancient period....
), for violin and piano (1999). This was the last work composed by Sur, who was in the audience at its world premiere in the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
on 19 February 1999, three months before his death. The music was inspired by Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
's poem "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" is a poem by Walt Whitman, published in Whitman's Leaves of Grass collection. "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" is found in the title section, Sea-Drift. It was originally called 'A child's Reminiscence' and was published individually by the New York...
.
Recordings
- Collage New Music Plays Donald Sur – Collage New MusicCollage New MusicCollage New Music is a classical music ensemble specialising in performance of works by 20th and 21st century composers. It was founded in 1972 by percussionist Frank Epstein who served as its Music Director until 1991. Since that time its Director has been the conductor David Hoose.-The...
, ensemble; David Hoose & Frank Epstein, conductors. Label: Albany RecordsAlbany RecordsAlbany Records is an American classical music record label focusing particularly on contemporary classical music. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987, and is based in Albany, New York.-External links:**...
(2008)
This was the first (and as of 2011) only commerical recording of Sur's music. It contains Red Dust; Catena I, II, and III; The Unicorn and the Lady; Berceuse; Satori on Park Avenue; and A Neo-Plastic Epistrophe While Crossing Times Square.
Sources
- Carl, RobertRobert CarlRobert Carl is an American composer who currently resides in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is chair of the composition department at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford.-Music:...
(March 2010). "Review: Collage New Music Performs Donald Sur". Fanfare. Retrieved 1 December 2011 . - Dyer, Richard (18 March 1990). "'Slavery' Time Donald Sur Gives Voice to a History of Shame and Heroism". Boston Globe. Retrieved 30 November 2011 .
- Dyer, Richard (25 May 1999). "Donald Sur 1935-1999, Boston Embraced Composer's Works". Boston Globe. Retrieved 30 November 2011 .
- Gehman, Geoff (31 October 1986). "The Audience Has A Part In This Piece Of Chamber Music". The Morning Call. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
- Harbison, JohnJohn HarbisonJohn Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
(2011). Liner notes for American Music for Percussion, Vol. 2 (New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble; Frank Epstein, conductor). Naxos ClassicalNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
. Retrieved 30 November 2011. - McLellan, Joseph (22 February 1999). "Sumptuous Strings". Washington Post. Retrieved 1 December 2011 .
- New York Times (29 May 1999). "Donald Sur, 64, Eclectic Composer". Retrieved 30 November 2011.
- Oteri, Frank J.Frank J. OteriFrank J. Oteri born May 12, 1964 is a composer based in New York City.Oteri's musical works have been performed in venues from Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall to the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art...
(26 January 2010). "Sounds Heard: Collage New Music Performs Donald Sur". NewMusicBoxNewMusicBoxNewMusicBox is an e-zine launched by the American Music Center on May 1, 1999. The magazine includes interviews and articles concerning American Contemporary Music, composers, improvisers, and musicians....
. Retrieved 30 November 2011. - Seo, Maria Kongju (2001). "Korean Americans and Their Music: Transcending Ethnic and Geographical Boundaries" in Yoshitaka Terada (ed.). Transcending Boundaries: Asian Musics in North America, pp. 79-112. National Museum of Ethnology (Japan)
External links
- Portrait and biography of Donald Sur on the official website of Collage New MusicCollage New MusicCollage New Music is a classical music ensemble specialising in performance of works by 20th and 21st century composers. It was founded in 1972 by percussionist Frank Epstein who served as its Music Director until 1991. Since that time its Director has been the conductor David Hoose.-The...
- Audio file of the complete performance of Sur's Satori on Park Avenue on the website of Arts of the States Radio
- Donald Sur on WorldCatWorldCatWorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...