11.5.23 The Chamber Music of Gregoria Karides Suchy

Evening Concert Series Sara M. Snell Music Theater

2023 – 2024 Season Sunday, November 5th at 7:30 PM

The Music of Gregoria Karides Suchy (1923-2018)

A Centennial Celebration A Concert of Instrumental Solo and Chamber Music Suite on Greek Themes (1959) I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII.

Knife Dance Kolo Dance in 3/4 Save, O Lord, Thy People Kolo Dance in 7/8 Sousta Two Fish, Fighting!

Circle Dance in 7/8

Tracy Lipke-Perry, piano Soliloquy sans C (1974) John Lindsey, violin Bacchanalian Triophony (1964) Brian Dunbar, flute Julianne Kirk Doyle, clarinet Maxwell Grube, bassoon A Fantasy for Piano (1960) Rosemary Suniga, piano Argument – Mother and Daughter (Diamánto) (1960)* Katherine Sherman and Tracy Lipke-Perry, piano Three Lovers (1960) Mountain Rascal Wretched Looser Happy Suitor Tracy Lipke-Perry and Keilor Kastella, piano *World premiere

Gregoria Karides Suchy (1923-2018) wrote for a variety of media, including electronic. Her compositions, many of which received awards and prizes, have been performed by eminent artists and groups including the New York Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; the International Society of Contemporary Music; Rudolph Ganz, piano; Leonard Sorkin and Gerald Fischbach, violins; also, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (American Composers Festival); and the National Association of Composers-USA. “Greg,” as she was known, was born into a Greek immigrant extended family of photographers and musicians. This ethnic influence can be heard in some of her most frequently performed works, Twelve Greek Maxims, Greek Rhapsody, and Three Lovers. Yet she wrote: Although my Greek heritage provided my first musical experiences, and though I feel those ethnic rhythms and modal melodies to be part of my very essence, I have never felt restricted or bound by those musical impulses. Rather, I have always enjoyed setting new compositional parameters for myself, be it

an odd combination of instruments or timbres, the pre-determined necessities of a ballet, the enrichment of multimedia, the confines of serialism, or the artistic exploration of the technological frontier. I do not feel as if I have only one style or any preferable genre, and I am still exploring. It is the joy of the challenge and the fulfillment of creating that exhilarate me, and this I wish for all of my students...

As Professor of Composition and Music Technology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she taught for over fifty years, she was a passionate teacher. Her own mentors included J. Thomas Oakes, Anthony Donato, Alexander Tcherepnin, Rudolph Ganz, and Ralph Shapey.

Composition for me is sometimes a flurry, a tumultuous engulfing of ideas. More often, it is a painstaking process of inspired crafting guided by a dash of dependable intuition. My best efforts have often come in the middle of the night or in the dark hours of the morning when the world was remote, and the ideas buried within could speak more clearly to me. Composing is often a lonely process, the initial nakedness of one's ideas makes retreat seem desirable, but then the musical thoughts are clothed and ready to be set forth into the world. That is an exciting, yet formidable moment. Will others share the beauty I sense? Perhaps it shouldn't matter; I compose neither just for myself nor solely for others, but simply because I must.

Suchy was immersed in music as a child including as part of the family’s Greek band in which she played piano and accordion. Greek folk music serves as the impetus for four of the six compositions that you will hear this evening.

Gregoria is at the piano with her father, Georgios (George) Karides, seated right. In the back are her uncles Demetrios (Jimmy) and Vasilios (Bill). The two younger children are her siblings Marcia (Marousa) and Peter (Panayiotis). Not pictured: two adult family friends who were also part of the band. While most engagements were in the Midwest, the band also played national events. Photo: Karides Photo Studio, late 1930s).

Suite on Greek Themes consists of six folk songs/dances and one hymn. “Knife Dance” is a zeïmbeκιkos, traditionally a dance done by men. The zeïmbeκιkos most likely takes its name from the Zeybeks, a militia living in the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire. Its first references date from the end of the 17th century in cities such as Constantinople (Istanbul) and Smyrna (Izmir). Originally it was a war dance with two armed men facing one another. Each measure has nine beats subdivided as 2+2+2+3.

“Kolo Dance in 3/4” is a tsamikos, a slow circle dance in triple meter. In it, the leader, traditionally a male, often does acrobatics while being supported by the second-in-line grasping a handkerchief to support the movements.

The other name for the tsamikos is klephtikos. The Klephts were insurgents from the mountains who fought for the freedom of Greece from the Ottoman Turks in the War of Independence (1821-30).

“Save, O Lord, Thy People” (“Σώσον Κύριε τον Λαόν Σου”) is a beloved hymn of the Greek Orthodox Church.

It is chanted on special feast days such as the Elevation of the Holy Cross (September 14th). In Constantinople, it was also sung on the city walls when barbarians would attack. Tchaikovsky used the Russian melody for this hymn in the 1812 Overture.

“Kolo Dance in 7/8” is a syrtos. The syrtos and its relative, the kalamatianos, are the most common and, as far as documentation goes, the oldest form of Hellenic line dancing, likely dating back to ancient Greece. The syrtos is the most stately of the two and tends to be slower.

In more modern times, the sousta is a couple’s dance often performed at weddings or as part of courtship.

Traditionally, the woman holds a handkerchief stretched out between her hands and the couple dances around each other but never touch. It is said that the origins of the dance are in Ancient Crete as one done by men to appease the goddess, Rhea. The source melody for “Sousta” is marked “Αράπικη Σούστα – Μπάλος” (Arabic Sousta – Ballos). The dance is in duple meter. The melody of a ballos tends to be joyful and lyrical. “Arabic” most likely refers to the scales used.

“Two Fish, Fighting!” is based on the song, “Δύο Ψαράκια Μελανούρια,” (“Two Black Fish”) and is another zeïmbeκιkos.

“Circle Dance in 7/8” is a kalamatianos. It was composed in 1963 as a stand-alone piece and was added several years later as a finale to the suite.

Soliloquy sans C, an abstract violin monologue, is based on an eleven-tone scale. "Just for fun and as a kind of artistic challenge," says the composer, "I set for myself the task of deliberately excluding throughout the entire piece one of the twelve possible pitch classes. As far back as I can recall I've had this nagging desire to scrupulously omit a tone in a composition. 'C' has been my choice for this singular 'honor' for many and varied reasons. To my amusement, in 1974, when I wrote the piece, none of the violinists and other musicians on whom I tested the score noticed that not a single 'C' appears anywhere in the composition." A review of the premiere published in the Milwaukee Journal stated, "The truncated phrasing of the beautifully double-stopped work developed an oratorical cadence suited to the theatrical form suggested by the title."

Bacchanalian Triophony is based on the well-known Greek folk song/dance, “Μια Παπαδιά Στων Αργαλειό” (“A Priest’s Wife at the Loom”). As one of the verses indicates, the woman sometimes does a weaving of a different sort: to relieve the constant foot motion to work the loom, she often takes a nip of good Greek wine, and goes down to the seaside to dance.

There was a twelve-year gap between the premiere of Bacchanalian Triophony in 1974 and its second performance. A note written by the composer c. 1987 was found in one of the scores:

The piece has quickly changing meters, and a tricky interplay, particularly in the 7/8 sections, and is a challenge to perform, requiring absolute ensemble precision while maintaining grace and fluidity of movement. After hearing the premiere of Triophony, a number of groups were very interested in performing it, but I must tell you, after seeing the score, none were brave enough to tackle it, none, that is, until this past fall…

Bacchanalian Triophony was originally scored for flute, clarinet, and cello, and the composer indicated that other instrumentations were welcome. She prepared parts specifically for violin and bassoon, and listed other possibilities, as well.

A Fantasy for Piano received 1st Prize in the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs Composers' Contest in 1962 and was premiered under their auspices. The piece was then selected by the International Society for Contemporary Music, Chicago, for performances at different venues in 1963-64, and was widely performed after that time. It is in ABA form and within those sections, the themes return in various transformations. Anita Hankwitz, the first pianist to perform the piece, commented: The melodies of A Fantasy for Piano are lyrical in feeling and combine contrapuntally, making use of a linear technique. The dissonance resulting from numerous cross-relations gives a distinct individual expression. Structurally, motive development constitutes the unifying means, while rhythmic mutations and sharp dynamic contrasts provide a definitive character. The full gamut of the piano is brought into play to give the work a dramatic temper of many mood contrasts.

Argument: Mother and Daughter (Diamánto), scored for two pianos, was written in 1960. And scored for full orchestra almost immediately. Then, perhaps in 1961, she made some revisions to the two-piano version. She also left pencil markings in the orchestral score regarding updating this to match the revised piano version.

Sometimes, she listed the title in reverse: “’Diamánto’ aka Argument: Mother and Daughter”. “Diamánto” is the folk song that formed the basis for this work.

There is a hand-written note on one of the orchestral scores to the effect that this piece would make a good pairing with either Three Lovers or Greek Rhapsody. This would be just as true of the two-piano version of “Three Lovers” as is being done today. No programs, recordings or reviews have come to light of either the two-piano or the orchestral versions. Thus, tonight’s performance is the world premiere.

Three Lovers, also scored for two pianos, consists of a trio of programmatic sketches based on authentic Greek folk songs and dances that have been imbued with a strong contemporary texture. "Mountain Rascal" portrays a virile and mischievous youth aptly characterized via the zeïmbekikos, “Τα ούλα σου.” A slow tsamikos proves an appropriate vehicle to represent the lamenting "Wretched Loser". In contrast, the carefree "Happy Suitor" is well-depicted with a lively syrtos. Three Lovers received the first prize award in the composition contest sponsored by the Chicago Musicians Club of Women in 1960 and was premiered as part of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Chicago concert series of 1961. The subsequent orchestral version received performances by the Milwaukee Symphony during the "Symphony-on-Campus" concerts under the direction of Arthur Weisburg and later, Kenneth Schermerhorn.

The orchestral versions of Three Lovers and Argument: Mother and Daughter, along with perhaps what is Suchy’s most popular work, Greek Rhapsody, will be performed by the Crane Symphony Orchestra on November 14th at 7:30 pm in Hosmer Hall, the actual date of the composer’s centenary.