Monday, December 16, 2013
Sunday, December 15, 2013
We'll see you in the new year!
Dear readers,
"Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto" and "Conductor's Notes" will return as regular posts in early February. We'll be talking about Casino Night, our med-season fundraiser, the Whittier College Bach Festival and all its surrounding events, and ageless American musical classics. In the meantime, thank you for reading, thank you for attending our concerts, and have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
Linda de Vries, Chair
Board of Directors
"Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto" and "Conductor's Notes" will return as regular posts in early February. We'll be talking about Casino Night, our med-season fundraiser, the Whittier College Bach Festival and all its surrounding events, and ageless American musical classics. In the meantime, thank you for reading, thank you for attending our concerts, and have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
Linda de Vries, Chair
Board of Directors
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Christmas with Chorale Bel Canto...
In the lovely sanctuary of East Whittier United Methodist Church.
When I was a kid I loved the family Christmas traditions. It is almost even more amazing to be a part of our patron's traditions. Merry Christmas to all our fans and our amazing talent. - David
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto: A Time for Gifting
Destination . . .
Chorale Bel Canto
By Linda de
Vries, Singer and Chair of the Board
Love classical choral music? Think Chorale Bel Canto.
Seldom or never listen to classical choral music? Think
again.
On December 7 think the City of Whittier at 4:00 p.m.
or 7:30 p.m., where Chorale Bel Canto will sing Christmas with
Chorale Bel Canto at the East Whittier United Methodist Church, 10005
S. Cole Road. This year our holiday concert features Vivaldi’s Gloria
as well as new arrangements of Christmas music by Edward Zeliff, a southern
California composer and arranger. Mr. Zeliff and members of his choir will be
in attendance in the audience. The concert will also include the popular
feature of sing-along carols.
Think Whittier is too far to drive for just a concert? Think
again.
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto” posts several times in
advance of each of our concerts, offering you ideas for a different day trip
to the city in which we’re singing, with a Chorale Bel Canto concert at the
center of your experience. These trips appeal to a wide variety of interests
and share fascinating, sometimes intricate, connections between the city and
the music.
A Time for Gifting
Leading up to our Christmas concert we’ve written about the music we're singing and we've suggested several
different ways in which you might wish to spend your day in Whittier and
surrounding areas. You can scroll down through past posts to review these
options:
- Enjoying the annual Whittier Christmas Parade
- Fishing, pedal boating, walking, and picnicking at Legg Lake and the Whittier Narrows Recreation Center
- Preparing Holiday food gifts and touring the historic homes at the Homestead Museum in the next-door City of Industry
- Traveling back in time to Mexican California by visiting the San Gabriel Mission, the Sanchez Adobe, and Pio Pico State Park
- Experiencing Asian serenity by visiting the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in Hacienda Heights
The focus of this post is giving thanks and giving and
receiving gifts. Whittier and Chorale Bel Canto offer unique ways in which you
can find that special offering to a friend or a family member. In addition to
our gift of exquisite holiday music, we have a special gift for you!
Where to Shop for Gifts
Uptown Whittier has many one-of-a-kind boutiques
where you can find everything from Apparel to Mike’s “Z” Shop--gifts for your avid reader,
trendy teen, vintage clothing fan, cigar aficionado, tiny tot, cyclist, Mexican
import lover, vinyl LP collector, art lover, classic car enthusiast, crafter .
. . everyone on your list!
Uptown also has a number of great places to find antiques--A
to Z Mart, King Richard’s Antique Center, Philadelphia Street Antiques, Uptown
Antiques, Yellow Pie Antiques, Chiefs Roadside Antiques, American Antiques and
Collectibles, Rodeo Durango, Sunshine Antique, Virginia’s Antiques, Royal
Antique Center, and Elegant Elephant.
And don’t forget antiques stores, second-hand emporiums, and
great junk shops in the neighboring cites of Pico Rivera and La Habra!
The Quad at Whittier, sited at the intersection of
Whittier Boulevard and Painter Avenue, boasts Old Navy, Anna’s Linens,
Burlington Coat Factory, Staples, Michaels, Radio Shack, TJ Maxx, and many
more.
Whittwood Town Center, further east on Whittier
Boulevard at Santa Gertrudes (very near the Chorale concert venue), offers J.C.
Penny, Target, Sears, Kohl’s, Cost Plus World Market, See’s Candies, and many
more small boutiques. It is home to more than 50 stores. In addition, there are
numerous places to enjoy lunch or dinner located in this shopping and dining
village.
New!
Artists of the Chorale. Many of our singers
have multiple talents and engage in other arts in addition to music. We have
many crafters, too! This year for the first time Chorale Bel Canto offers
lovely handmade gifts created by our singers as well as our own totes, mugs, and cookbooks. We are also selling very special fruitcakes. Come to hear the magnificent and moving Christmas music and stay to complete
your Christmas shopping! Ten percent of each purchase goes to support the
mission of the Chorale.
You may also want to give the gift of more beautiful
music. Buy tickets to future concerts for your friends and family! Buy tickets
for them to this Christmas concert online right after you read this
post!
How to Give a Gift to the Chorale
Yes, we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and
donations are necessary for us to afford to bring this music to you and
maintain a reasonable ticket price, so we always welcome your monetary gifts.
Now, however, we suggest some nifty ways to help the
Chorale that will not cost you a penny! If you shop online, join the
Amazon Smile program and a certain percentage
of every purchase you make goes to support the Chorale if you designate it as
your charity of choice. Just google “Amazon Smile” and follow the simple steps.
The real beauty part is that you can change your charitable designation
whenever you want, so maybe you give to the Chorale for six months and then
another charity of your choice for the next six months—spread the wealth!
You can donate to the Chorale in the same way by
joining the Ralphs Rewards program and
designating the Chorale as your charity of choice. The food on your table
supports classical choral music!
How to Get the Gift the Chorale has for You
We want you to become a member of the Chorale Bel
Canto family and attend all of our concerts. We want to keep you posted on all
the Chorale events. We want you to subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter,
which keeps you up to date on Chorale activities and delights you with “Chorale
Offstage,” highlighting other performances and community activities of our
singers and conductors. We want you to follow our blog, where we post not only
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto," but in-depth background articles on the
music we sing and the artists who present it.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Conductor's Notes, by Stephen Gothold, Music Director.
Edward David Zeliff
Chorale Bel Canto’s Christmas concerts this Saturday, December 7 at 4:00 and 7:30pm will include on the program several carols by local composer and educator, Edward David Zeliff. We will sing Zeliff’s arrangements of several traditional carols: Away in A Manger, Silent Night, Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella, What Child Is This, and the Wexford Carol. In addition, we will perform an original work by Zeliff, Who Are You, My Little One?, a lovely and poignant telling of the nativity story from the perspective of Mary.
A resident of Southern California, Edward David Zeliff (b. 1947) studied piano with Earle Voorhies (a student of Alexander Siloti, who was himself a student of Franz Liszt and a teacher of Rachmaninoff). He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition at the California Institute of the Arts, and followed that with many years in the religious film community composing and conducting a number of scores for short subjects and features, recording in London and Los Angeles. Later he earned both his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Composition at Claremont Graduate University, studying with Peter Boyer and Frank Campo. He serves there as adjunct faculty teaching composition. In addition to teaching privately, he continues to serve as a church music director, regularly writing new music for services and special concert programs.
Dr. Zeliff’s catalogue includes works for solo voice, piano literature, choral music, and several substantial works for orchestra, and orchestra with chorus. Highlights from his output include the song cycles Voyager and Of Loss, Life, and Love: Songs on the Poetry of Walt Whitman, both performed recently by the extraordinarily talented young artists Solène and Sarah Le Van with the composer accompanying. In the Memory Of, scored for solo cello and chamber orchestra, received its world premiere at the Royal College of Music under the direction of Marcy Sudock; God Thoughts, for mixed chorus, harp, and strings on select poetry of Emily Dickinson, was featured by Phillip Brunelle and VocalEssence in their Essentially Choral reading sessions; Equatoria, for solo voice and chamber orchestra, was premiered on the CD Composition at Claremont Graduate University with the composer conducting; and Out of Time, a suite for solo piano, is a recital staple given numerous insightful performances by internationally acclaimed pianist Edith Orloff.
Dr. Zeliff’s Christmas music regularly enjoys local performances by the acclaimed Montainside Master Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Sébastien Vallée, and this holiday season sees new performances by the Chorale Bel Canto, led by Stephen Gothold. An original work, Who Are You, My Little One? (scored for mixed chorus, oboe, and piano),was premiered by the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay under the direction of Dr. Richard Zielinski, and another work appropriate to the season, the a cappella setting of My Soul Magnifies the Lord was given its premiere by the Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester, Minnesota, under the direction of Michael Culloton.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Destination . . .
Chorale Bel Canto
By Linda de
Vries, Singer and Chair of the Board
Love classical choral music? Think Chorale Bel Canto.
Seldom or never listen to classical choral music? Think
again.
On December 7 think the City of Whittier,
where Chorale Bel Canto is singing Christmas with Chorale Bel Canto.
Think Whittier is too far to drive for just a concert? Think
again.
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto” posts several times in
advance of each of our concerts, offering you ideas for a different day trip
to the city in which we’re singing, with a Chorale Bel Canto concert at the
center of your experience. These trips appeal to a wide variety of interests
and share fascinating, sometimes intricate, connections between the city and
the music.
Today,
think Early California.
The demand for tickets for this concert has been
significant, so we have added a second performance—you may celebrate with us at
either 4:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. If you opt for the evening performance,
which we now encourage, you may wish to begin your day later than 10:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
Begin your day at San Gabriel Arcángel Mission, 428 S.
Mission Drive, San Gabriel 91776. (626-282-5308). Founded September 8, 1771 by
Spaniards of the Franciscan order as the fourth of what would become 21
missions in California, this mission is still a fully-functioning parish
church. Father Antonio Cruzado designed the mission, its Moorish architecture
reflecting his home in Córdoba, Spain.
Tour the church, museum, and
grounds. Museum exhibits include mission relics, books, and religious artifacts.
The grounds feature operations from the original mission complex, including
indoor and outdoor kitchens, winery, water cisterns, soap and candle vats,
tanning vats for preparing cattle hides, a cemetery, and a gift shop.
San Gabriel Mission
12:00 noon
There are many places
to lunch around the mission, and you may wish to spend more of your day in San
Gabriel.
Or, you might want to
head to Whittier for a great Mexican meal. Try El Buen Gusto Mexican Restaurant, a proud supporter
of Chorale Bel Canto, at 10820 Beverly Blvd., 562-692-4448—“the best chile
verde on the planet.” Another good authentic choice is Bizarra Capital at 12706 Philadelphia St.,
562-945-2426. Owned and operated by chef Ricardo Diaz, who also runs the much
touted Colonia Taco Lounge in La Puente, Bizarra
Capital has the best guacamole on the East Side!
2:00 p.m.
If you do choose to spend more of your day
in San Gabriel and lunch later, you have many choices.
You might visit the Ramona Museum of California History,
at 339 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel, CA 91776, 626-289-0034. It is open most
Saturdays 11:a.m. to 4:00 p.m., but it is a good idea to call in advance. This
museum is Parlor #109 of the Native Sons of the Golden West, an organization
dedicated to preserving and promoting California history. The Ramona Museum
includes artifacts and relics from the early Rancho and Mission Periods.
There is also the San Gabriel Historical Museum at
546 W. Broadway, San Gabriel, CA 91776, 626-308-3223, and the historic Hayes
House next door. The Hayes House, also known as the Bovard-Wilson-Hayes
House, was build in 1887 for Reverend George Finley Bovard, who later became
the fourth president of the University of Southern California (USC). During the
1990s it was moved to its present location next to the museum. The museum is
open the first Saturday of the month and by appointment, 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Admission is free.
Or, you might want to make your way toward Whittier and visit Rancho La Merced, Misión Viejo, and the Sanchez Adobe.
Rancho La Merced, meaning "Rancho of the Mercy of God," was originally a part of the San Gabriel Mission, but became subject to private ownership with the secularization of the missions in the 1830s. In 1844 Mexican Governor Manuel Micheltorena granted the 2,363-acre parcel to Casilda Soto de Lobo, the widow of José Cecilio Villalobo, also known as José Lobo. Today, parts of the cities of Montebello and Monterey Park occupy former Rancho land.
The Rancho was also known as Misión
Vieja, because the site of the original San
Gabriel Mission was within its boundaries, on the banks of the Rio Hondo in the Whittier Narrows. The first mission was
destroyed by a flash flood and was then relocated five miles closer to the
mountains. The site of Misión Vieja can still be seen near the
intersection of San Gabriel Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue in Montebello.
Why was Señora Lobo granted the
land? Ancestry provides a clue. Cecilio Lobo’s father, Juan José, had been a
soldier with the Rivera-Moncada expedition of 1781, the group that founded the pueblo
of Los Angeles. Casilda Soto’s mother was of the Nieto family, recipients
of the huge Nieto land grant of 1784, encompassing territory where today stand
the cities of La Mirada, Whittier, and Santa Fe Springs.
In 1845 Señora Lobo built a small
adobe on a bluff overlooking the Rio Hondo, the original channel of the San
Gabriel River, and lived there with her children during the Mexican-American
war. Indeed, not far from her house is a monument commemorating the 1847 Battle
of Rio San Gabriel, seen today at the crossing of Washington Boulevard and
Bluff Road in Montebello.
In 1850, however, she approached William Workman, one of the
wealthiest ranchers in the San Gabriel Valley, for a loan of $2,000, a loan she
was unable to repay. Apparently
rather than foreclose, Workman purchased Rancho La Merced from Casilda Soto for
$4,500 in 1851. The following year he deeded his son-in-law, F. P.F. Temple,
and his former La Puente ranch foreman, Juan Matias Sanchez, each a half
interest in Rancho La Merced for one dollar apiece.
Sanchez and Workman had first met in Taos, New Mexico, and Sanchez followed Workman to California in 1848. Workman staked Sanchez to prospecting in the Northern California gold fields where Sanchez struck pay dirt, for which Workman was ever grateful.
Sanchez first married Luisa Archuleta, a widow with four children. The couple produced an additional five children. Luisa died in 1873, possibly murdered by her husband, who had a reputation for a reckless use of firearms. Sanchez subsequently married Maltide Bojorquez, with whom he had three more children, and to whom he ceded 200 acres of his property—which ultimately proved to be his salvation.
After the Workman gift, the Temples farmed and raised cattle, building an adobe that stood at what is today the southeast corner of Rosemead Boulevard and San Gabriel Boulevard/Durfee Avenue (destroyed by fire in the early 1900s). Sanchez moved into the Soto adobe, now known as the Sanchez Adobe, and eventually added a wing to the house. Also a successful farmer and rancher, Juan Matias later bought adjoining ranchos, which are today the city of South El Monte.
Workman and Temple partnered in ownership of one of two commercial banks in Los Angeles, located at Spring and Main Streets, the present site of Los Angeles City Hall. The bank was poorly managed, however, and fell on hard times in the 1875 economic collapse caused by silver speculation. Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin granted them a loan, requiring Sanchez to put up half of his land as co-collateral.
After Baldwin’s death in 1909, his estate sold the Rancho to a group of oilmen, including W.B. Scott, who received title to 45 acres and the adobe in 1915. He took up residence and modernized the house, creating a showplace of the period. At Scott’s death the property went to his widow and their two children. The property was subdivided in 1957, creating Sanchez Street, Avenida de La Merced, Scott Avenue, and Adobe Avenue. Josephine deeded the ranch to the Montebello Historical Society and the City of Montebello in 1972. The Sanchez heirs were able to recoup their family’s lost fortune when their property in Santa Fe Springs yielded oil in the 1920s.
The Sanchez Adobe, the oldest standing structure in Montebello and some say in Los Angeles, is located at 946 N. Adobe Avenue, Montebello, CA 90640, 323-887-4592. It is open Saturdays 1:00-3:45 p.m. Admission is free.
Juan Matias Sanchez
Rancho La Merced c. 1907
Fountain at the Old Rancho La Merced
Fountain at the Old Rancho La Merced
Even closer,
right next door to Whittier you’ll find Pio Pico State Park at 6003
Pioneer Boulevard, open Saturday and Sunday 9:30-4:00, 562-695-1217. The
Pio Pico Mansion, known as “El Ranchito,” is the former residence of the last
Mexican Governor of California, Pio de Jesus Pico, and is also one of southern
California’s few remaining 19th century adobe structures.
2:00 p.m.
Time for lunch,
if you delayed. After lunch, make your way east along Whittier Boulevard.
4:00
p.m. or 7:30 p.m.—The Concert
This year Christmas With Chorale Bel Canto
features Vivaldi’s Gloria as well
as new arrangements of Christmas music by Edward Zeliff, a southern California
composer and arranger. Mr. Zeliff and members of his choir will be in
attendance in the audience. The concert will also include the popular feature
of sing-along carols. The concert is at East Whittier United Methodist Church,
10005 S. Cole Road. Whichever performance you choose to attend, we look forward
to seeing you there!
6:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m.
If you lunched elsewhere,
you may wish to return to El Buen Gusto or Bizzara Capital for dinner. Or, you
might want to drive further east on Whittier Boulevard to El Cholo
Spanish Cafe, a landmark in La Habra for
decades. If you attended the evening performance, any would do for drinks or
dessert as well.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Destination . . .
Chorale Bel Canto
By Linda de
Vries, Singer and Chair of the Board
Love classical choral music? Think Chorale Bel Canto.
On December 7th think the City of Whittier,
where Chorale Bel Canto is singing Christmas with Chorale Bel Canto.
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto” posts several times in
advance of each of our concerts, offering you ideas for a different day trip
to the city in which we’re singing, with a Chorale Bel Canto concert at the
center of your experience. These trips appeal to a wide variety of interests
and share fascinating, sometimes intricate, connections between the city and
the music. This time it’s
Early San Gabriel Valley History
William (“Don Julian”) Workman was born about ten years after Rowland, in Cumbria, England. He followed his elder brother David to Philadelphia in 1822 and in 1825 made his way, as had Rowland before him, to Taos. Workman entered into a ten-year common-law marriage with Maria Nicolasa Urioste de Valencia, a Taos Native American, and formally wed her here in California at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in 1844.
Rowland and Workman formed a partnership in Taos, working as fur trappers, grist mill operators, and manufacturers of “Taos Lightning,” a whiskey popular with other trappers. The two became embroiled in political conflicts between Mexico and the United States and were at one point arrested for smuggling, which “encouraged” them to travel to California along the Old Spanish Trail in 1841.
Even though they couldn’t use wagons on the trail, and not all of them were Americans, the Workman-Rowland Party has long been considered the first wagon train of Americans to travel overland to Los Angeles.
Rowland obtained a Mexican land grant to Rancho La Puente in 1842. Workman built an adobe on the land while Rowland returned to New Mexico to bring his family west. Within a year he, too, had built his own adobe.
Again at the center of political activity, the two fought in the Mexican-American War. At the Battle of Cahuenga Pass, they assisted Pio Pico in becoming the first Californio (native-born Californian) to assume the office of Governor of Alta California. Workman was one of three who brought out the flag of truce. In 1845 Governor Pio Pico added Workman’s name to the land grant, enlarging it to almost 50,000 acres.
The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 proved to be a windfall for the partners, who forsook their hide and tallow trade to raise cattle to supply beef to the miners. They later expanded their holdings by establishing wine vineyards and apple, fig, peach, pear, and pomegranate orchards. Rowland had built the first grist mill in the Los Angeles area in 1847, but Workman also built a mill, remembered today in Workman Mill Road. During the US Civil War they supported the Union by supplying horses to the federal government.
Their cattle industry declined with the slowing of the Gold Rush, the importation of better cattle breeds from Texas, and floods and droughts in the early 1860s. They were able, however, to move their livestock to the Mojave Desert and retain strong herds into the 1870s. Rowland retained most of his La Puene holdings until his death in 1873.
John and Encarnación Rowland had ten children, and three of their sons married into families whose names and land holdings became the sources of other Southern California cities—Yorba Linda, Chino, Santa Ana. One son became president of the Puente Oil Company as well as Sheriff of Los Angeles. When Encarnación died in 1851, John married Charlotte M. Gray. Their daughter’s husband married General Charles Forman, who established Toluca Lake. Today, heirs of Rowland still own over a hundred acres in the City of Industry and Rowland Heights.
Morning. Begin your day at The Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, 15415 East Don Julian Road, City of Industry, 626-968-8492, info@homesteadmusuem.org. On this six-acre site you can explore the evolution of architectural history and domestic style during the century from 1830 to 1930.
There is a special treat available to you today. You
may enjoy Homemade at the Homestead, a “Holiday Gifting” food
workshop, and the last in a series of three. Here you can “create gifts that
capture the scents and tastes of the season.” You will need to call the museum
to register, and class size is limited to 18, so it’s possible that it’s
booked. This workshop, led by chef, historian, and educator Ernest Miller,
costs $30 per adult and $25 for students over 12 and seniors. All materials are
included in the cost. An adult must accompany students. The museum also hosts
special events on December 8, 14, and 15. Visit their website for more
information.
The Workman House
As wealth from oil exploration replaced wealth from farming and banking, Walter and Laura Temple were able, in 1917, to repurchase 75 acres of the family’s original ranch. Between 1922 and 1927 they built La Casa Nueva, “the new house,” a Spanish Colonial Revival mansion, initially designed by the architectural firm of Walker and Eisen and refined by Roy Seldon Price. Constructed mostly of adobe bricks handmade by a group of Guadalajara artisans led by Pablo Urzua, the contractor on the 26-room highly decorated mansion was Sylvester Cook of Whittier.
La Casa Nueva
At the Homestead Museum you can also view El Campo Santo, one of the oldest private cemeteries in the area and the resting place of Pio Pico, the last governor of Mexican California, whose adobe can be visited in nearby Pico Rivera. It also contains the remains of the Workman and Temple families, as well as the grave of John Rowland.
El Campo Santo
Lunch. Bring a lunch and picnic on the grounds of the
museum, or visit one of the many nearby restaurants.
Afternoon. Complete your day at the Homestead by
taking the 1:00 tour, which gives you plenty of time to wend your way to
Whittier for the concert: 10005 S. Cole Road, East Whittier United Methodist
Church.
4:00
p.m.—The Concert
This year Christmas With Chorale Bel Canto
features Vivaldi’s Gloria as well
as new arrangements of Christmas music by Edward Zeliff, a Southern California
composer and arranger. Mr. Zeliff and members of his choir will also be in
attendance in the audience. The concert will also include the popular feature
of sing-along carols.
The demand for tickets for this concert has been
significant, so we have added a second performance. You may celebrate with us at
either 4:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. Today’s schedule recommends that you opt for the
afternoon performance, but at whatever time, we look forward to seeing you!
Monday, November 18, 2013
Vivaldi..
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) was one of the first Baroque composers other than Bach to gain real popularity in the second half of the 20th century. So Vivaldi has had a major role in the modern Baroque performance movement, and he also had an enormous effect on the musicians of his own time. He was a strikingly original composer in many respects and made contributions to program music, forms, violin technique, novel combinations of instruments, and musical style in general. His influence on just about everyone who wrote concerti after him was considerable, and it is impossible to consider the music of Bach without taking him into account. Throughout his life Antonio Vivaldi complained of “strettezza di petto,” probably asthma, and his health as a newborn was so fragile that the midwife performed an emergency baptism as soon as he was born. Most likely he learned the violin from his father, and by 1696 he was appearing at San Marco for Christmas services. Vivaldi was ordained as a priest in 1703, but stopped saying mass a few years later, presumably because music was occupying all of his attention. In 1737, he was censured for conduct unbecoming a priest, which he blamed on his health. There is the famous early 19th-century story about him rushing from the sacristy during mass to write down a fugue he had rattling around in his head; but perhaps his own version of the incident is correct, and he simply was having an asthma attack. At any rate, he remained personally observant for the rest of his life and added “Laus Deo” and other religious mottos to the beginnings of many of his autograph scores, interestingly enough especially his operas. In 1703 Vivaldi was first appointed maestro di violino at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà, one of four such Venetian institutions dedicated to the care of the illegitimate children of nobility. The Pietà specialized in providing musical training for the girls under its care who displayed talent, and the concert-like services there in which they performed were enthusiastically attended by visitors and the Venetian nobility. In addition to teaching violin, Vivaldi was responsible for the acquisition and maintenance of the Pietà’s stringed instruments. Although his position was not renewed in 1709, it is unlikely that Vivaldi’s performance or conduct had anything to do with the decision. Perhaps, rather, he had done his job too well, and his pupils no longer needed instruction. During this time, Vivaldi increasingly turned his attention to composition. A print of his first sonatas appeared in 1705, and some of his concertos seem to have been in circulation as early as 1708. His opus 3, the tremendously influential set of concertos called L’estro armonico, was published by Etienne Roger in Amsterdam in 1711. Roger used engraving for his publications, a much more handsome and readable process than the block type printing still used in Italy. This collection marks the beginning of the great demand for Vivaldi’s works in northern Europe and is only the first in a series of important and much emulated Vivaldi concerto prints issued by Roger. Vivaldi was reappointed to his former position at the Pietà in 1709, and in 1716 he was promoted to the position of maestro de’ concerti. It is during this period that the sacred vocal works performed here were likely composed. The Gloria RV 589 is Vivaldi’s most famous sacred work and is known today simply as “Vivaldi’s Gloria,” even though there is also another setting of the text by the composer. RV 589 was composed between 1713 and 1717 during Vivaldi’s second period of employment at the Pietà and was likely intended for performance there. There are various ideas about the circumstances of the first performance. It might have been for Pietà’s festival on July 2nd of 1716, or for Christmas later that year. Another theory is that it could have been used for a service commemorating Venetian victories over the Turks at the very end of 1716, and this would explain the rather martial character of the opening movement. The first modern performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria was in Siena in 1939, making it one of the earliest works by the composer to be brought back to public attention. While Vivaldi certainly did not display a Bach-like sensitivity to detailed and profound text expression, his sense of the general mood of each phrase of text and his creative musical solutions for each are extremely effective. The brilliance and variety of textures and affect displayed in the 11 movements of this work make it a tremendously appealing example of late Baroque sacred music. —Robert Eisenstein (Used by permission)
Friday, November 15, 2013
By Linda de
Vries, Singer and Chair of the Board
Love classical choral music? Think Chorale Bel Canto.
Seldom or never listen to classical choral music? Think
again.
On December 7 think the City of Whittier,
where Chorale Bel Canto is singing Christmas with Chorale Bel Canto.
Think Whittier is too far to drive for just a concert? Think
again.
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto” posts several times in
advance of each of our concerts, offering you ideas for a different day trip
to the city in which we’re singing, with a Chorale Bel Canto concert at the
center of your experience. These trips appeal to a wide variety of interests
and share fascinating, sometimes intricate, connections between the city and
the music.
A Day in Montana—but in Whittier!
Backstory. At the age of 69 I became an angler. In
that same year I also became a singer. In this post I bring those two
together—in Whittier.
At our 2008 50th Whittier High School reunion I
joined up with an old friend and his wife. Ken and I had reconnected through
correspondence some time back, but here I met Helena for the first time—love at
first dinner! They invited me to visit them in Missoula, Montana, where both
were on the University faculty. Ken joked about a fly fishing trip, hardly
guessing that it had long been a distant fantasy of mine—pictures of all those
anglers standing in waders on gravel bars amidst gorgeous scenery! So, we
fished—the Blackfoot (A River Runs Through It), the Bitterroot, and the
Clark Fork, which does, indeed, run right through Missoula—love at first cast!
Rainbow Trout in
Montana
In the same year, I had just retired from 50 years of
university teaching, planning to write and travel. One day the elderly
gentleman at the YMCA who was handing me back my membership card mentioned to
another exerciser something about singing—in a class at Rio Hondo College.
Four years later, I have amassed 30 units in music at Rio
Hondo College, continue to study privately with two teachers, sing with Chorale
Bel Canto, am Chair of its Board of Directors, and continue to fish in Montana.
In the curious way of the world, the Chorale’s Music Director, Stephen Gothold,
was also at Whittier High with Ken and me!
In thinking about yet another way to spend a day in
Whittier, I realized I could come close to replicating a couple of days in
Missoula compressed into one lovely day in Whittier: fly fishing, a spa visit,
a beautiful music concert, and a delicious meal at a fine dining restaurant. In
Missoula the venues would typically be the Clark Fork River, a Vichy scrub and
hot stone massage at Sorella’s Spa or Cedar Creek Spa, the Friday Art Walk, and
dinner at Pearl’s.
In Whittier, this itinerary comes very, very close!
Morning. Head to the Whittier Narrows Recreation
Area, a 56-year old, 1,492-acre oasis located in the City of South El Monte.
The park is located on both sides of the Pomona Freeway at Rosemead Boulevard
and Santa Anita Avenue: 750 S. Santa Anita Avenue, South El Monte, CA 91733,
626-575-5526. Park hours are from sunrise to sunset and vehicle parking is
$6.00 per car on the weekends.
From Beverly Boulevard, head north on Rosemead Boulevard,
turn right at San Gabriel, which becomes Durfee Road. Along Durfee you will
find the parking entrance to Legg Lake. Access the two other lakes—North Lake
and Center Lake—from Santa Anita Avenue, a left turn off of Durfee Road.
Legg Lake Whittier
Boats are not allowed, but bait casting, fly fishing, and
spinning are possible. There is a fishing pier right by the parking area for
Legg Lake, and many also report good fishing by the pedal boat rental area. The
lake is stocked with bluegill, largemouth bass, small mouth bass, rainbow
trout, crapple, panfish, and channel catfish. To find more detailed information
about fishing times and tips from anglers, go online at www.hookandbullet.com.
If you choose to fish from the pier, it’s always a good idea to read up on pier
fishing etiquette and safety.
You will, of course, need a fishing license, which you can
purchase online for $14.61 for one day at
www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/ols/intro.htm, or at any one of several nearby bait
shops or sporting goods stores—see www.hookandbullet.com. For the kids, you
might also want to check out the Daniel Hernandez Youth Foundation Junior
Fishing Club at Whittier Narrows.
Should you want to go out on the lake, you can rent pedal
boats. Call the park or contact www.wheelfunrentals.com, 823 Lexington Gallatin
Road, South El Monte, CA 91727, 805-253-5894. They rent from August-June Saturdays
and Sundays 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Rentals are also available for surreys,
bikes, and group picnic spots. Legg
Lake also allows the operation of radio-controlled model speedboats.
The park offers many other amenities: walking,
biking, and equestrian trails, including a BMX Bicycle Moto Cross Track and an
Equestrian Center; comfort stations, picnic areas, children’s play areas, a paved airstrip for radio-controlled
hobby aircraft, a dog sports field, and an American military museum.
Sports enthusiasts will find a multi-purpose athletic
complex, a disc golf course and frisbee golf, softball, baseball, and soccer
fields, volleyball and tennis courts and a pro tennis shop, a small bore rifle
range, trap and skeet shooting ranges, and an archery range.
Nature lovers may enjoy the community garden, bird
watching, nature walks, and the Nature Center, which contains exhibits about the plants and animals of the San Gabriel
River environment, including live displays. The center offers public programs,
lectures, ranger tours, and education programs.
Lunch. The obvious choice here is a picnic in the
Recreation Center. Before your arrival at Whittier Narrows you might have
traveled from east to west along Whittier Boulevard and stopped at Sprouts (at
Santa Gertrudes), Trader Joe’s (at Colima), or Fresh and Easy (at Painter) to
gather your picnic supplies.
Following a morning of outdoor activities, to continue the
parallel with a day in Montana, you might enjoy a spa experience. There are
several spas in Whittier, but the Zen Den Spa at 7750 Painter Avenue,
562-945-2490, is highly rated. They have full shower facilities, so after a
relaxing massage or other treatment, you can get all spiffed up for the
afternoon concert!
Or, if you are a member of the YMCA, the Uptown Whittier
branch has a lap pool, a warm-water therapy pool, and an even hotter Jacuzzi,
with, of course, full-service dressing rooms with showers.
4:00 p.m.—The Concert
East Whittier United Methodist Church, 10005 S. Cole Road. This year CantChristmas With Chorale Bel Canto features Vivaldi’s Gloria as well
as new arrangements of Christmas music by Edward Zeliff, a southern California
composer and arranger. Mr. Zeliff and members of his choir will also be in
attendance in the audience. The concert will also include the popular feature
of sing-along carols.
The demand for tickets for this concert has been
significant, so we have added a second performance—you may celebrate with us at
either 4:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. Today’s schedule recommends that you opt for the
afternoon performance, but at whatever time, we look forward to seeing you!
Dinner. There are many fine restaurants in Whittier
and the surrounding area, but the two that for me would come the closest to
replicating the experience of Pearl’s in Missoula are either the Cat and the
Custard Cup at 800 E. Whittier Boulevard in La Habra, or Setá, on the corner of
Philadelphia Street and Bright Avenue in Uptown Whittier.
There you are—a day in Whittier á la Montana!
Monday, November 11, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto
Destination . . .
Chorale Bel Canto
By Linda de
Vries, Singer and Chair of the Board
Love classical choral music? Think Chorale Bel Canto.
Seldom or never listen to classical choral music? Think
again.
On December 7 think the City of Whittier,
where Chorale Bel Canto is singing Christmas with Chorale Bel Canto.
Think Whittier is too far to drive for just a concert? Think
again.
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto” posts several times in
advance of each of our concerts, offering you ideas for a different day trip
to the city in which we’re singing, with a Chorale Bel Canto concert at the
center of your experience. These trips appeal to a wide variety of interests
and share fascinating, sometimes intricate, connections between the city
and the music.
Think
Christmas!
Morning. Begin your day in Whittier by viewing the 60th
annual Uptown Whittier Christmas Parade, complete with marching bands, floats,
local drill teams, equestrian groups, Miss Uptown, and Santa Claus. The parade
begins at 10:00 a.m. at the corner of Hadley and Greenleaf and ends at 12:00
noon at Mar Vista.
Lunch. Following the parade, you may lunch at any one
of a number of Whittier restaurants. Begin at the corner of Greenleaf and
Philadelphia and walk north or south on Greenleaf and you will find many
choices. More choices abound if you walk east or west on Philadelphia. One
block north of Greenleaf, turn right on Bright Street and discover more
eateries.
After lunch you may wish to shop for that special Christmas
gift in some of the unusual Uptown stores, or visit The Whittier Museum at 7555
Newlin Avenue, 562-945-3871, open Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Lunch Alternative. You may wish instead to head along
Whittier Boulevard to East Whittier, where the Chorale will sing, and lunch at
one of the many restaurants in Whittwood Town Center: Black Angus Steakhouse,
Carl’s Jr./Green Burrito, Chipotle, IHOP, Johnny Carino’s, Mimi’s Cafe, Panera
Bread, Red Robin, Ruby’s Diner, the Thai Table, and more.
This gives you a further chance to shop and explore an area whose history embodies the southern California postwar experience. Much of the history of Whittier was, and still is, intertwined contentiously with the oil industry, and the landowners whose holdings became East Whittier were the initial drillers.
Before WW II, the land
to the east of Whittier was open farm and ranch land. During the postwar
population explosion the areas of Murphy Ranch, Friendly Hills, and Leffingwell Ranch were sub-divided into housing
developments. These became known as East Whittier. In 1961 the City of Whittier
annexed these areas, adding over 28,000 people to its population. East
Whittier, however, contines to maintain a significant individual identity. The
Murphy and Leffingwell families each donated a special thread to the fabric of
the Whittier locale.
Murphy Ranch. Simon Jones Murphy, born in Maine, became a wealthy businessman in the Michigan lumber industry. While vacationing in California he participated in the real estate boom of 1887. He and an associate purchased the Ramirez Rancho and began to subdivide the rancho. Unfortunately, the land boom went bust soon after, and the city of Whittier barely survived.
Murphy was wealthy enough to hold on, however, and he invited Arthur L. Reed, a Michigan engineer, to join him in the Whittier colony to build flumes, conduits, a pumping station, and a reservoir to bring water to the City and to his farmland. He formed the East Whittier Land & Water Co. and the Murphy Oil Company, the latter drilling 50 successful wells. By the time Murphy died in 1905, Whittier was well on the road to survival. His son, Simon J. Murphy, Jr. led the family business ventures until his death in 1926.
Murphy gave his name to the long-gone Murphy Hospital (the land now a chic condominium housing development), a packinghouse on Whittier Boulevard (now the home of King Richard’s Antiques), an elementary school, and a Little League organization.
Not only at the center of the oil industry, Murphy also had a connection to another southern California controversial phenomenon through his Michigan origins—the automobile. One of his five sons, William H. Murphy, was a financier of Henry Ford’s Detroit automobile projects, while William’s nephew, Walter M. Murphy, built Duesenberg bodies in his company in Pasadena. The Murphy family is also known for building several buildings in the Detroit Financial District.
In 1954 Murphy Ranch sold its holdings for a subdivision to be called Friendly Hills, in homage to the Society of Friends, the Quaker founders of Whittier.
Leffingwell Ranch. Dr. Charles Wesley Leffingwell (descended from an Englishman who settled in Connecticut in 1636) was an Episcopal clergyman from Knoxville, Illinois, who came west in 1833 to officiate at St. John’s on Adams Street in Los Angeles.
The farmland he owned began to produce only when his son, Charles W. Leffingwell, Jr. began to manage the lemon orchards and walnut groves. Leffingwell prospered in the Whittier real estate recovery of the first decade of the 20th century and bought additional land, 261 acres of which he sold to an oil exploration company.
Leffingwell employed Japanese and Mexican farm hands, building—in what is now the City of La Habra—segregated bunkhouses designed by the noted Pasadena architectural firm of Greene and Greene. He later took advantage of the Bracero Program, as did Simon Murphy at his ranch, to hire more Mexican hands.
Leffingwell began subdividing his ranch in 1919, but it was not until the postwar housing boom that the ranch was given over to housing. In 1951 the Lusk Company began building tracts of 3-bedroom, 2-bath ranch-style homes throughout the area. The company’s first commercial development on former ranch land was the Whittwood Shopping Mall (now Whittwood Town Center), which opened in 1961. That same year he sold the first homes in a tract between Cole Road and Scott Avenue, “set back from the Boulevard for suburban seclusion.”
During this boom period, the Santa Ana District of the Methodist Church purchased 22 acres along Cole road. John D. Lusk donated his Whittier Boulevard home as the first building to house The East Whittier United
Methodist Church.
The first services were held in the living room of this home, now Lusk Hall, in 1951, led by Pastor Raymond L. Wirth. Twenty-three members were present. Sixty-two years, several additional buildings, and eleven pastors later, Chorale Bel Canto will sing its Christmas concert at this historic church, located at 10005 S. Cole Road.
4:00 p.m.—The Concert
This year Christmas With Chorale Bel Canto
features Vivaldi’s Gloria as well
as new arrangements of Christmas music by Edward Zeliff, a southern California
composer and arranger. Mr. Zeliff and members of his choir will also be in
attendance in the audience. The concert will also include the popular feature
of sing-along carols.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Our Next Concert..
Beautiful postcard for beautiful music.
We hope you join us for one of the two performances.
Visit our website to purchase tickets now...
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Destination . . .
Chorale Bel Canto
By Linda de
Vries, Singer and Chair of the Board
Love classical choral music? Think Chorale Bel Canto.
Seldom or never listen to classical choral music? Think
again.
On October 26 think the City of Whittier,
where Chorale Bel Canto is singing Love Songs Through the Ages.
Think Whittier is too far to drive for just a concert? Think
again.
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto” posts several times in
advance of each of our concerts, offering you ideas for a different day trip
to the city in which we’re singing, with a Chorale Bel Canto concert at the
center of your experience. These trips appeal to a wide variety of interests,
and share fascinating, sometimes intricate, connections between the city
and the music.
Today,
think Asian Serenity.
The population of Whittier is only about 4% Asian,
but as the concentric circles around Whittier widen to encompass Rowland
Heights and Monterey Park, the Asian population increases to over 50%, as does
the number of Asian services—spas, markets, temples, gardens, restaurants, and
more. Enjoy a bit of the Far East in and around Whittier before the concert!
Morning. Begin your day in nearby Hacienda Heights at the Hsi
Lai Temple, located at 3456 Glenmark Drive,
626-961-6697, info@hsilai.org. Sited atop a hill just off Hacienda Boulevard on
15 acres of land with 102,000 square feet of interior space, this Buddhist
monastery is faithful to the Ming (1368-1644 C.E.) and Quing (1644-1911 C.E.)
dynastic styles of architecture. Hsi Lai translates as “coming west,”
and this temple and monastery were founded by the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order
(in the Chinese Mahayana tradition) to spread the teachings of the Buddha to
the Western Hemisphere.
You will enter through the Temple’s stunning gateway
and enter first in Bodhisattva Hall, dedicated to several enlightened sages, or
“Buddhas in training,” and displaying their golden statues. To your left is the
Information Center, where bi-lingual volunteers will provide you with a
40-minute self-guided audio tour pack. On your tour you will visit the Arhat
Garden; the Avalokitesvara Garden; the elaborate Courtyard with its four lions;
the Main Shrine dedicated to Sakyamuni Buddha, Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the
founder of Buddhism; the Fo Guang Yuan Hsi Lai Art Gallery; the Translation
Center; the Auditorium; the Meditation Hall; and the Memorial Pagoda that sits
atop the temple grounds.
The Temple runs an after-school enrichment program
for K-6 grade students, as well as providing weekend classes and special
workshops for adults interested in Chinese culture and Buddhism, meditation, or
Dharma instrument instruction. The Temple also boasts the Buddha’s Light
Symphony Orchestra, the Buddha’s Light Chorus, and the Hsi Lai Chinese Drum
Troupe, as well as hosting special events. Call the Information Office for
specific times and dates. The temple is open 9:00-5:00 daily. There is
handicapped parking, all levels are wheelchair accessible by elevator, and all
areas are traversable by ramps.
Depending upon how much time you’d like to spend in the Temple, you may want
to structure your day to include a visit to the 99 Ranch Market, located
very near the Temple at 1625 Azusa Avenue, Hacienda Heights, 626-839-2899. This
is one of 30 Asian supermarkets founded by the Taiwanese-born American, Roger
H. Chen, so-named because the number 99 is considered by the Chinese to be
lucky.Most of the market’s customers are Chinese American, but the chain sells a wide range of imported food products and merchandise from Hong Kong, Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines, as well as some domestic products made by Chinese American companies. The language used in the stores is Mandarin Chinese, but some announcements are often made in English as well. You may feel as if you need your passport, but a visit to this market is an amazing experience not to be missed, and you will definitely find that special Asian ingredient you despaired of securing!
Lunch. Just below the Main Shrine in the Hsi Lai Temple is
the Dining Hall, where you may enjoy a vegetarian buffet for $7 weekdays from
11:30-1:30 and weekends from 11:30-2:30. Next to the Dining Hall is the Tea
Room, serving lighter fare, and the Book Store.
Or, you may wish to journey to Whittier and enjoy a
meal with meat. The well-recommended Silver Palace Restaurant, serving Schezuan
food, is located at 15326 Whittier Blvd., 562-947-4043. Many like the
inexpensive Grand Buffet, an elaborate Chinese buffet at 11885 Whittier Blvd.,
562-692-8997. Some swear by the New Canton Restaurant, at 13015 Philadelphia
St., 562-698-7315. The latter two are very near the afternoon’s concert venue.
Early
Afternoon. If you’ve spent the day at the Hsi
Lai Temple, you may wish to head straight to the concert. To deepen your state
of serenity before an afternoon of gentle a capella music, though, you
may wish to enjoy an Asian spa experience. The Greenleaf Massage Spa, located
at 7049 Greenleaf Ave., 562-360-9585 offers a range of massage experiences at
extremely reasonable prices in a relaxing setting. It’s a quiet retreat on the
busy main street of Uptown Whittier! Without requiring you to disrobe (or
disarrange your hair!—be sure to tell them) you may enjoy a 60-minute foot and
shoulder massage for $19.99. You may wish to return another time for their most
expensive 90-minute full body massage for $60. Prepare to be properly pummeled!
4:00 p.m. – The Concert
At the corner of Painter Avenue and Philadelphia Street in
Whittier you will find the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts. Just
east of the Shannon Center in the Whittier College Memorial Chapel, Chorale Bel
Canto will sing Love Songs Through the Ages. The music captures
true love, unrequited love, illicit love, courtly love, and humorous love,
expressed by composers from five centuries, from madrigals by George Gershwin
and the Beatles—Monteverdi to McCartney!
Evening. Conclude your Asian day in Whittier by
dining at one of its Japanese restaurants: Amachi at 6729 Greenleaf Ave.,
562-698-1510, or Azabu Sushi at 13119 E. Philadelphia St., 562-789-0881. The
Pasadena Star News recently gave Amachi two stars and Azabu three stars. A
close friend of mine will only eat salmon at Amachi!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Destination . . .
Chorale Bel Canto
By Linda de
Vries, Singer and Chair of the Board
Love classical choral music? Think Chorale Bel Canto.
Seldom or never listen to classical choral music? Think
again.
On October 26, think the City of Whittier,
where Chorale Bel Canto is singing Love Songs Through the Ages.
Think Whittier is too far to drive for just a concert? Think
again.
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto” posts several times in
advance of each of our concerts, offering you ideas for a different day trip
to the city in which we’re singing, with a Chorale Bel Canto concert at the
center of your experience. These trips appeal to a wide variety of interests,
and share fascinating, sometimes intricate, connections between the city
and the music.
Today,
think Mexican California.
10:00 a.m.
Begin your day at San Gabriel Arcángel Mission, 428 S.
Mission Drive, San Gabriel 91776. (626-282-5308). Founded September 8, 1771 by
Spaniards of the Franciscan order as the fourth of what would become 21
missions in California, this mission is still a fully-functioning parish
church. Father Antonio Cruzado designed the mission, its Moorish architecture
reflecting his home in Córdoba, Spain,
The original site of the mission was on the banks of the Rio
Hondo in the Whittier Narrows. It was destroyed by a flash flood and was
relocated five miles closer to the mountains. The Misión Vieja (“Old
Mission”) can be seen near the intersection of San Gabriel Boulevard and
Lincoln Avenue in Montebello. From this mission were sent the fathers that
founded the pueblo that became the City of Los Angeles.
Tour the church, museum, and
grounds. Museum exhibits include mission relics, books and religious artifacts.
The grounds feature operations from the original mission complex, including
indoor and outdoor kitchens, winery, water cisterns, soap and candle vats,
tanning vats for preparing cattle hides, a cemetery, and a gift shop.
12:00 noon
There are many places
to lunch around the mission, and you may wish to spend more of your day in San
Gabriel. Or, you might want to head to Whittier for a great Mexican meal. Try
El Buen Gusto Mexican Restaurant, a proud supporter of Chorale Bel Canto, at
10820 Beverly Blvd., 562-692-4448. Another good authentic choice is Bizarra
Capital at 12706 Philadelphia St., 562-945-2426.
You might want to lunch later and visit the Juan
Matias Sanchez Adobe Historical Site built in 1844 on Rancho La Merced in the
city of Montebello at 945 North Adobe.The Sanchez Adobe is open Saturday afternoons. For exact
hours, contact Info@MontebelloHistoricalSociety.org.
Governor Micheltorena granted
Rancho La Merced to Casilda Soto de Lobo, the widow of a soldier assigned to
the San Gabriel Mission, in 1844. In 1850, William Workman purchased it and, in
1851, gave it to his son-in-law, Francisco P. Temple, and former ranch foreman,
Juan Matias Sanchez.
The Sanchez Adobe was partially
constructed in 1845 by Casilda Soto de Lobo and her three sons. With William
Workman's gift in 1851, Juan Matías Sanchez moved into the house. In 1876 the Temple and workman bank
failed and the ranch ended up in the hands of Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin, after
whom Baldwin Park is named. The subsequent history of both Temple and Sanchez
was filled with tragedy, and the property changed hands many times after their
deaths. Josephine Scott Crocker gave the deed to the Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe
to the Montebello Historical Society in 1972.
2:00 p.m.
Time for lunch,
if you delayed. If you lunched at noon, you may wish to continue your Early
California experience with a visit to the Pio Pico State Park at 6003
Pioneer Boulevard, open Saturday and Sunday 9:30-4:00. (562-695-1217)
(http://www.piopico.org/index.html)
The Pio Pico Mansion, known as “El Ranchito,” the former
residence of the last Mexican Governor of California, Pio de Jesus Pico, and
one of southern California’s few remaining 19th century structures
built of the large sun-dried mud bricks called adobe.
4:00 p.m.
Return along Beverly or Whittier Boulevards to Painter
Avenue in Whittier. At the corner of Painter and Philadelphia Street you will
find the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts. Just east of the
Shannon Center in the Whittier College Memorial Chapel, Chorale Bel Canto sings
Love Songs Through the Ages. The music captures true love,
unrequited love, illicit love, courtly love, and humorous love, expressed by
composers from five centuries, from madrigals by George Gershwin and the
Beatles—Monteverdi to McCartney!
One intricate connection between this concert and Whittier
is that this concert contains “April is in My Mistress Face,” by Thomas Morley.
The poet John Greenleaf Whittier, after whom the town is named, wrote the words
for many hymns, one being “I Bow my Forehead to the Dust.” The hymn has been
set to the music of several composers, one of them being Thomas Morley.
Although not a love song, one might say Whittier’s poem expresses love of
another sort.
On a more contemporary, perhaps playful note, there is a Beatles
tribute band in the next-door city of La Habra called Hard Day’s Night. You may
book them for your next event!
6:00 p.m.
If you lunched elsewhere,
you may wish to return to El Buen Gusto or Bizzara Capital for dinner. Or, you
might want to drive east on Whittier Boulevard to El Cholo Spanish Cafe, a
landmark in La Habra for decades.
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