Stepan Spekh (Hłudno, 13 June 1922, Przemyśl region - 22 February 2009, Munich) was a Ukrainian vocalist, opera singer, composer, music graphic artist, public figure, and promoter of Ukrainian music outside of Ukraine.
Here is how the author describes himself in his autobiography:
"I was born on 13 June 1922 in the village of Hłudno, Berezów Poviat, Lviv Voivodeship (Nadsyannia). I am the son of Ignacy and Melanie of the Circassian family. My father is a Roman Catholic, a Pole (the son of a mixed marriage: my mother is a Ukrainian from the Skotnicki family), my mother is a Greek Catholic, a Ukrainian, the daughter of Ukrainian relatives. I am describing the faces and names, as well as the village of Glidno, in more detail because the greatest experiences and abuse were endured by mixed couples, and the village of Glidno was subject to the Wisła resettlement action, and all Ukrainians were resettled to Ukraine, while in Glidno there remained mixed women who were confident in themselves, defending their husbands, who also had influence on the decision, to provide for them.
Biography
Childhood
Stepan Spekh was born in the village of Hlidno, located in the Bereziv Poviat in the Rzeszow Oblast (today: Poland), on the historical territory of the Lemkivshchyna.
A large number of Ukrainians lived in the village, which had a Ukrainian church and a reading room. During the holidays, they held concerts and staged plays. Since childhood, Stepan dreamed of being a musician, so he was active in the community and sang in the church choir.
All his life, he remembered his childhood and his grandfather Yurii Cherkes, who was the village's mayor for many years.
The Ansbach period
In 1940, during the Second World War, Stepan Spekh, along with many others, was forcibly taken to Germany as an Ostarbeiter.
Stepan Spekh recalls that time in his autobiography:
"At the end of February, having assembled a new vehicle, we set off under police guard with dogs. At longer stops, the girls served us hot tea because the nights were still cold. On 3 March 1940, in the evening, we arrived in Ansbach (Ansbach/Mittelfranken).
In the German city of Ansbach, he found himself on a farm, where the owner Friedrich Wittemann gave him responsibility for the horses, having learned that Stepan had already worked with horses in his village of Hlidno. Later, Stepan would remember this owner for his great kindness. When he met other countrymen who worked for other owners, he listened to their stories and realised how lucky he was. Unlike the others, Stepan lived with the owner as a member of the family, had complete freedom and sat at the same table with everyone.
After the war ended, the US military freed prisoners and Ostarbeiters and helped people return home. Stepan finds himself in a refugee camp, where he asks for help from the government official, Mr Umrath, who has lived in the neighbourhood of the farm for all these years and with whom he has always had a friendly relationship. Mr Umrath helps Stepan to obtain a work permit in Germany, and Stepan returns to his owner, now with a normal job with a salary. He moves from the camp to private housing. And eventually he moved to Munich.
His hope of becoming a musician, which he had almost lost during the war, returned. In Munich, Stepan Spekh began to study music with famous performing musicians: pianist Claire Frühling-Gerlach and the outstanding tenor Orest Rusnak.
The New York period
In the postwar period, many people began to emigrate to the United States. With the hope of continuing his musical education, Stepan Spekh, together with American soldiers, went on a warship to another continent.
Memories from the ship "General Harry Taylor":
We boarded the warship Harry Taylor in the afternoon and set sail in the evening. Knowing a few words of English, he was assigned to the whole unit (department) of Ukrainians to be a gausmeister. Having followed all the instructions early, before the visit, I had a whole day free from work after the visit: I ran around the ship looking for opportunities to take photos. After following the valuable instructions from my comrades who left early, giving me the necessary information by letter from the beginning of the trip, were useful to me.
On 26 September 1951, Stepan Spekh left for America, and there he is in New York, trying to find a way to live and improve in his favourite business. He finds a large Ukrainian community that has created a safe place to preserve its own culture and traditions, creating an entire infrastructure for this purpose. He studies at the Ukrainian Music Institute in the solo singing class of Ivanna Pryima and composition class of Volodymyr Hridyn. While studying at the Institute of Music, Stepan began to actively rewrite musical texts for Ukrainian musicians as needed and earn money by using his calligraphic talent. He would later often say: "I am an opera singer, a composer, and a music graphic artist."
The New York period marks the beginning of his active career as a vocalist, with many musical projects and concerts. Stepan Spekh became known to the American public through the broadcasts of the New York Public Radio WNYC.
Stepan was a member of the theatre studio of Olympia Dobrovolska and Yosyp Hirniak, and a member of the Dumka choir under the direction of Leontiy Krushelnytsky.
After graduating from the institute, Stepan Spekh began working at the Gunda Jordan Opera Studio, where he performed opera arias under the direction of Albert di Natale.
On 13 April 1957, Stepan Spekh organised a concert for his former teacher, tenor Orest Rusnak, in New York at the Ukrainian Literary and Artistic Club, where they met again in person after many years. That year, New York also hosted the "Evening of Young Artists," for which Stepan Spekh was preparing to sing Ukrainian folk songs to his own harmonies. When he presented his notes to his teacher, Professor Ivana Pryima, she praised them, but refused to accompany the proposed songs on the piano. Instead, she encouraged Stepan to compose his own song. At that moment, Stepan looked through his collection of poetry and wrote a melody to Mykola Horishnyi's words "Hey, I dreamed of my native village". This first composition of his was to become the anthem of the natives of the village of Hlidno, including the later Patriarch Dymytrii Yarema. He and Dymytrii Yarema were friends in the village, and after returning from America, Stepan Spekh had the opportunity to travel to Ukraine and meet the Patriarch in person again.
The Munich period
On 18 September 1959, Stepan returned to Germany, first to Ansbach and then to Munich, and began working with the pianist Annemarie Wagner and her chamber choir. In 1960, Stepan, together with Annemarie and her choir, toured Italy. One of the works in the choir's repertoire was the Divine Liturgy in Ukrainian, written by the composer. This choir performed Stepan Spekh's Divine Liturgy very often, travelling for many years to cities in Germany and Europe.
In December 1979, the Bishop of the Apostolic Exarchate of Munich, Platon Kornyliak, published a book with the liturgy's notes on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Exarchate's existence.
At this time, when Stepan Spekh was not touring with the choir, in January 1967, accompanied by the Gypsy ensemble of Sandor Lakatos, he recorded a number of Ukrainian folk songs and dances on the APON record entitled "Pearls of Ukraine".
The Munich period is mainly characterised as a fruitful period for his compositional activity. Stepan Spekh organises a series of concerts where he and other well-known soloists sing his own compositions in various well-known venues. It is also here that Stepan Spekh begins a period in his life when he works as a sexton in the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Munich. While singing solo and in the choir, he took on not only the task of deacon but also the responsibility of choirmaster: he conducted rehearsals, created and transcribed parts for voices, and continued his work as a music graphic artist and music editor. His extensive church and musical activities brought him into constant good contact with church leaders, priests, and bishops. One of the main meetings was in February 1982 at the celebration of the 90th birthday of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj in Rome, to which Stepan Spekh was personally invited. There he introduced his son Stepan to the Patriarch, who at that time had already begun to sing in church with his father.
Stepan Spekh organised meetings with leaders of German organisations, introducing them to Ukrainian culture, traditions and art.
On 26 February 2009, Bishop Peter celebrated a funeral liturgy and memorial service in the Ukrainian church in Munich, where he had been a deacon for many years.
On 27 February 2009, the funeral took place and he was buried in Munich at the Waldfriedhof cemetery. The funeral ended with the song "Hear, My Brother..." and began with his own composition "To You, God", with Taras Yashchenko playing the organ. After that, a three-day service was held.
Family.
Stepan Spekh met his future wife almost immediately after returning from the United States to Munich. Originally from Lviv, Iryna Kachaniuk-Spekh moved to Germany as a child. She was studying to become a teacher at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.
Stepan and Iryna met each other in late 1959 and married on 16 May 1964.
On 12 May 1965, their first son Osyp was born, on 20 April 1967, their second son Stepan, and on 14 October 1969, their third son Andrii. On 04 July 2006, the son Stepan's first grandson, Stepan Spekha, was born: Nestor.
Together, sons Osyp and Stepan founded ukimedia, a company aimed at translating computer software into Ukrainian. Later, the company expanded its activities to include radio and television software, but both brothers continued to be actively involved in cultural activities in Munich.
The younger son, Andriy, is a dance teacher. He ran a Ukrainian dance group and published Ukrainian songbooks. In addition, Andrii is a good guitar player.
To this day, the sons organise various cultural events in Munich, as if continuing their father's legacy, promoting and popularising Ukrainian culture in the world.
Chronology of famous concerts
In 1953, one of Stepan's concerts took place at the Third Literary and Art Fair, where he performed the work of S. Liudkevych "Cheremosh, My Brother", organised by the Ukrainian Literary and Art Club in New York.
On 23 June 1957, a monument to the poet was unveiled in Glen Spey (USA) on the occasion of this anniversary, where Stepan Spekh performed solos "If You Hear at Night" (words by Ivan Franko, music by D. Sichynsky) and "There's a Noise Around" (Raon's aria from Mykola Lysenko's opera Sappho).
On 31 May 1963, the composer gave a recital in Munich
On 31 January 1976, Stepan Spekh presented a large recital programme featuring choral and vocal works by the composer in the meeting hall of the Association of Ukrainians in Germany in Munich.
On 10 July 1977, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for mixed choir and soloists in Ukrainian, composed by Stepan Spekh, was performed for the first time in the church at the Ludwigsfeld house.
On 9 June 1982, a concert by Stepan Spekh was held in Lembachhaller, organised by the Central Representation of Ukrainian Emigration in Germany.
On 16 July 1989, the Ukrainian Christian Workers' Movement organised a festive academy on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko's birth, where the composer performed the work to which he had written the music - "My Thirteenth Birthday".
On 14 July 1990, a Shevchenko concert-lecture was held, during which Dr Roland Pitch from Stuttgart and Master Myroslav Antokhiy from Munich gave presentations on the poet's work. The lectures were followed by a concert by the Bandura folk group from Stuttgart, with well-known performers Svitlana Mykytchak Dubrovska (soprano), Stepan Spekh (tenor) and Bohdan Sharko (baritone, bandura player) as soloists. The piano accompaniment was provided by Oresta Cybrivska-Miller, and the poetry was recited by Martin Sauer[3].
List of works
The collection "Compositions", published in 2005, contains more than 100 compositions by Stepan Spekh, including selected manuscripts:
11 choral compositions
5 duets
1 tercet
2 melodic declarations
2 pieces with piano and cello accompaniment
several pieces for piano, flute and violin
all the rest are for solo singing, partly with the choir
"Divine Liturgy for mixed choir in Ukrainian, published in 1979.
