Saratoga Sampler

Beethoven's ninth symphony inspires art

By Mary Ann Cook

SALUTING BEETHOVEN'S NINTH: Two Saratoga artists are part of a Triton Museum of Art exhibit that marries music and art and that pays particular tribute to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The artists are David Hunt and Judith Marshall, and the event is called Unplugged and Unstretched: A Celebration of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

The music was used as inspiration and starting point for creating works on unstretched canvases. Hunt is an orthopedic surgeon with a practice in San Jose. He paints with the Saratoga Community of Painters and works in oils and watercolors.

He says that translating Beethoven's Ninth Symphony into a painting "includes a sense of surging energy and a concept of vaulted space and natural grandeur." Marshall says that she listened to the symphony repeatedly as she was painting until she understood what the music felt like.

Using mixed media and found objects allowed her to give free rein to her imagination, and she hopes her intuitive interpretation reaches a spiritual completion with viewers. She is the president of the Triton Museum Board of Trustees.

The exhibit will run from Feb. 11 to March 26. A reception for the artists is slated for Feb. 13 from 2 to 4 p.m.; it includes an interpretive dance choreographed and performed by April Shen. The goal of the show is to demonstrate the connection between music and the visual arts.

The exhibit is part of the Beethoven Festival 2000, which has a multitude of sponsors. On Feb. 15, a Fireside Chat with William Meredith, director of the Center for Beethoven studies at San Jose State University, is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in the Triton's Cowell Room. Tickets are $15. Call 408.288.2828.

EINSTEIN REVISITED: Albert Einstein was named Time Magazine's Person of the Century. Bertram Wolfe could have predicted this appraisal when he was 19. Wolfe, a Monte Sereno resident, is a retired nuclear-energy physicist who met the inventor in 1947 as a freshman at Princeton University.

Wolfe's recollections of that meeting were preserved in a letter to his parents. "I am firmly convinced that I spoke to one of the greatest people alive. I have never heard a man who could explain his point of view so expertly, find the core of the questioner's query, and so logically and satisfyingly give an answer."

Einstein was answering questions about religion and morals at a Jewish religious service expected to close at 8:30 p.m., but that didn't end until 10 p.m., so enthralled were questioners and answerer alike.

MAKE-A-WISH: The Make-A-Wish Foundation was the beneficiary when Rinconada Hills residents held a dinner dance recently and raised $10,000 for the foundation. About 54 generous folks either underwrote some of the cost of the dinner or contributed gifts for the silent auction and donation drawing. The committee hopes other communities will follow its example and get the fundraising-for-nonprofits bug.

The idea was the brainchild of Fran Rude, who was helped by 16 other residents plus the staff of Rinconada Hills. Fran and her husband, Andre Rude, contributed most of the food for the evening, and the Rudes and their daughter and son-in-law, Deanna and Leon Orkin, made the appetizers.

Sarah Birnbaum provided the dessert table; others pitched in for cheese and wine. Harrell Remodeling of Menlo Park paid for the Gary Chula Band. Shirley and Bud Hosterman contributed the glassware and took charge of decorations. Others who helped plan and underwrite the evening included Linda Schechner, Randy and Susie Grimes, Le Velligan, Dan Scolari, Ann Eppinga, Frank Marra, Judy Albright, Cathy Gillum, Barbara Howard, Phyllis Melberg and Helen Dormire.

Bob LoPresto of Saratoga contributed two hours of saxophone music (to be played by him) and a baseball autographed by Vida Blue. Saratoga businesses that contributed to the silent auction include Florentine Restaurant, Bella Saratoga and Preston Wynne Spa.

Fran Rude said she was overwhelmed by the response: She expected to clear about $5,000. People were so generous that expenses per person came to a mere $1.50, adding up to quite a profit from the $30 tickets sold. Some 130 people attended. Rude intends to make it an annual event.

POETRY AWARD WINNERS: It was a warm and welcoming Sunday afternoon recently at Villa Montalvo, despite the rainy weather, when the Montalvo Poetry Contest winners read from their works. Parthinia Hicks of Los Gatos was the first-place winner.

Some 150 people celebrated the event, and enthusiastic attendees said everyone seemed reluctant to leave--a tribute to the award winners and their well-chosen words.

CIVIL WAR MUSIC: History buffs take note: The concert on Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m. at Los Gatos High School is a dramatization of the Civil War in music and dialogue compiled by Robert Trentham, tenor. Tickets available at the door. Contacts are Ray Strong, 408.377.1106, or Leah Frey, 408.356.5698.

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