Call Number:

3693

Repository:

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Extent:

6.4 linear feet (; 15 boxes, 3 volumes, 1 flat file)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], Ronald M. Surak papers (Collection 3963), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1949, 1961-2010, undated

Creator:

Surak, Ronald, 1940-2011.

Donor:

Surak, Martin

Abstract:

Ronald M. Surak (1940-2011) was a musician and music teacher from Shamokin, Pennsylvania. He specialized in composition, was particularly interested in computer-generated music, and created several works that combined traditional instruments with electronic music. He taught at the Wilmington Music School in Delaware and Rutgers University at both New Brunswick and Camden in New Jersey. Additionally, he served a director of the Rutgers Center for Computer and Experimental Music. This collection of Surak's papers is comprised mostly of his musical compositions and spans the second half of the twentieth century. In addition to musical scores, there are also programs (for his own performances and performances of his works by others), flyers, clippings, personal notes, and ephemera. There is also a significant group of audio and video recordings of his work on cassettes, CDs, and computer discs.

Ronald M. Surak was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania in 1940. A natural musician, Surak was educated at Villanova and Bucknell universities in the 1950s and 1960s. Later in life, he received advanced degrees in music from the Philadelphia Musical Academy (now University of the Arts) and Rutgers University. He began teaching music and composition at the Wilmington Music School in 1966 and eventually served as the school's acting executive director. (He returned to the school as a teacher in 2000.) From 1984 to 1998 he served on the music faculty of Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, and he served as a director of Rutgers's Graduate Computer Music Studio from 1990 to 1998. He died in January 2011.

Over the course of his career, Surak penned a significant number of compositions, including many that combined traditional instruments with computer-generated music. Among his more traditional works are a "Solitudes" series for voice, string quartet, and flute, "Philokalia" for symphony orchestra, and "Mordent" for piano trio. Works of Surak's that contained computer-generated music include "Beatitudes," "Curves of Pursuit," and "Noë." He developed a particular interest in exploring mathematical concepts through music, and he often used basic principles, such as prime numbers and the golden ratio, as the foundation for his works. He played a fundamental role in establishing electronic music facilities at Rutgers's New Brunswick and Camden campuses.

Outside of his teaching work, Surak received fellowships from and obtained residencies at a number of different cultural venues, including the Athens Center for the Arts in Athens, Greece; the Aspen Music Center in Aspen, Colorado; the Yellow Springs Institute for Contemporary Studies and the Arts in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania; the Montana Artists' Refuge in Basin, Montana; and the Millay Colony for the Arts in Austerlitz, New York. Surak was also a noted lecturer and visiting composer at various festivals and seminars across the country. He also created a number of works on commission, such his "Reflections on the Large Glass" series that was inspired by Marcel Duchamp's painting Large Glass, which he wrote for the Paley Design Center of Philadelphia University, and "Un Coup de Dés" that was inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé's poem of the same name.

The Ronald M. Surak papers are housed in fourteen boxes and one flat file. They are comprised mostly of his musical compositions and span the second half of the twentieth century. The collection has been divided in three series: Compositions (Series I), Programs and other papers (Series II), and Audio-visual items (Series III). The materials in Series III are closed to researchers until they can be digitized. (Please see the Restriction Note for further information.) This collection consists almost solely of records relating to Surak's musical works and the performance of them. The collection contains scant documentation of his teaching careers at the Wilmington Music School and Rutgers University and of his personal life.

The first series, Compositions, contains Surak's hand-written and computer-generated musical works and related papers (Boxes 1-5). They are arranged alphabetically by title, mostly according to identified groups that had been created before the collection came to HSP. Groups of unidentified compositions, fragments of compositions and musical notes, and unidentified computer programs on paper have been placed at the end of the series in Box 5, Folders 9-12.

The second series, Programs and other papers, comprises the contents of Boxes 6 and 7, as well as Flat File 1. Box 6 contains chronologically arranged programs from musical and theatrical performances that featured Surak's compositions. They range from the 1960s to the 2000s. Box 7 contains correspondence, letters of recommendation, clippings and other printed matter, resumes and biographies, papers on residencies he held, and papers relating to school work. Oversized posters and programs have been placed in Flat File 1. Papers in this series are arranged chronologically.

The final series, Audio-visual items, is comprised of an assortment of Surak's audio works on compact discs, audio cassette tapes, and DATs (Digital Audio Tape), as well as a few video camcorder and VHS tapes. In additions, there are also several 3.25 floppy discs, ZIP discs, and an unidentified hard drive. Items in this series are roughly arranged in alphabetical order by composition names. Those that could not be identified have been placed at the end of Box 13 and in Box 14. All materials in this series are currently closed to researchers due to servicing issues. Please see the Restriction note for further details.

Series I: Compositions, 1961-2000, undated; 6 boxes

Series II: Programs and other papers, 1963-2010, undated; 2 boxes, 1 flat file

Series III: Audio-visual items, 1971-2007, undated; 6 boxes