Community Music School String Quartet (1926), pt. 2

Community Music Center student orchestra (1924), source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection

In our scrapbook collection we have a typewritten program of 1923 performances at the San Francisco Public Library for the City of San Francisco 3rd Annual Music Week.  This event was co-sponsored by the University of California Extension Division.

The Community Music Center (then called the Community Music School Settlement) performed on the morning of November 3, 1923.  The two student conductors, Preston Hartman and Alfred Bousquet, were members of the 1926 string quartet.

An Oakland Tribune reviewer attending the convention of the California Federation of Music Clubs in 1924 took special notice of this orchestra .  He described them as

 a determined group of young fiddlers who we delighted to hear not alone for the good sort of music they offered but for the infection delight they took in offering it. Then there was one little shaver, Preston Hartman by name, who stood right out in front and led his mates with as magnificent an air as ever John Phillip Sousa could have mustered.

Preston Hartman was very active with the Community Music School.  At age 12 he had written an arrangement of the lullaby "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" for his fellow students to play.


 source: San Francisco Examiner January 3, 1926

A 1926 article tells of Jeanette Davis and Preston Hartman meeting with San Francisco Symphony conductor Alfred Hertz who gave them conducting tips. According to their yearbook, The Red and White, Preston Hartman led Lowell High School's string quartet in 1927.

 Preston Hartman - source The Red and White [yearbook], December 1927.

After graduating he went to work as a clerk at the Anglo-California National Bank, but he remained an amateur musician throughout his life.  According to his 2005 obituary he performed with the Shrine Band. A 1938 article mentioned that he was a member of the Berkeley Violin Club orchestra.  He also performed in the Marin Symphony Orchestra.  He also was a member of the orchestra for The Family, an all-male social club.

The published script of the 1946 Family Flight play of 1946 shows Preston Hartman as a member of The Everfaithful, the orchestra that accompanied the club's performances.  Here he performed alongside San Francisco Symphony musicians like Caeser Addimando, Fred A. Baker, Julius Haug, Ernest Kubitschek, Merrill L. Remington, Robert Rourke, Leslie Jerome Schivo, Rudy Seiger, Rogers F. Shoemaker, and Erich Weiler

source: San Francisco Chronicle (February 15, 2006).

Preston Hartman was born February 25, 1911 and died November 8, 2005.

Alfred Bousquet - source: The Mission [yearbook] Fall 1927

Alfred Bousquet was a musical standout at Mission High School.  He played in the all-state orchestra.  He also represented his school in the National Orchestra at the Superintendent's Conference in Dallas, Texas in February 1927. According to the 1940 census he completed 3 years of college.  He then worked as a teller at Bank of America.  Alfred Bousquet was born March 4, 1911 and died January 19, 1981.

The fourth member of the Community Music School String Quartet, Emmet Peterson, went on to attend and graduate from St. Mary's College in 1931.  In 1940 he became a civil law clerk for the Municipal Court.

Peterson remained active with the Community Music School / Center throughout his life.  According to a 1968 memorial article in the Minute Book, a publication of the Association of Municipal Court Clerks of California, he was active with the school for 50 years.  He later joined the school's board and served as treasurer.  During the 1950s he was involved with the arrangements committee for the school's rummage sales.

source: San Francisco Chronicle (February 22, 1959)

He also performed at the Community Music Center.  On February 27, 1959 he took part in a chamber music concert of baroque and modern music.

His obituary in the April 17, 1965 Chronicle described him as "one of the most admired and beloved figures in City Hall."  The Community Music Center honored him by presenting a black pine tree to the Strybing Arboretum with a plaque in Peterson's honor.  Emmet J. Peterson was born December 18, 1911 and died April 15, 1965.

source: San Francisco Chronicle (April 28, 1966)

None of the members of the Community Music School's String Quartet of 1926 went on to achieve fame as musicians.  But they all assumed role as hidden musical citizens within the wider musical life of San Francisco.


"Berkeley Violin club to give annual concert," Berkeley Daily Gazette (March 23, 1938).

"Children to give concert today," San Francisco Chronicle (June 1, 1923).

Danforth, Roy Harrison, "New themes fill delegates time, "Oakland Tribune April 30, 1924.

"Emmet Peterson," San Francisco Chronicle (April 17, 1965).

The Mission (Associated Students of the Mission High School, Spring; Fall 1927).

"Music school plans annual rummage sale," San Francisco Chronicle (April 4, 1952).

"New relief from 'atticolitis'," San Francisco Chronicle (January 29, 1956).

"Ninety will be graduated from St. Mary's College," San Francisco Chronicle (May 19, 1931).

"Out of the past, ten years ago today," San Rafael Daily Independent Journal (January 24, 1951).

"Pine tree to be presented to Arboretum," San Francisco Chronicle (April 28, 1926).

"Preston Hartman," San Francisco Chronicle (February 15, 2006).

So We Built a Church for "Steve"; Being the story of the building of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Wayside / the book by Richard Prosser; the music by Charles Runyan; general direction of Vincent E. Duffey. Based on a paper read at the Flight of 1943 by Harald Pracht; presented by the players and musicians of the Family, in the Valley of Portola on Sunday evening, September 1, 1946. The flight play for 1946 (The Family, 1947).

The Red and White (Lowell High School Students Association, December 1927).

"Rummage sale set for April 1 and 2," San Francisco Chronicle (January 30, 1953).

San Francisco Programs. Music (San Francisco Public Library, 1923).

"Two civil service posts awarded," San Francisco Chronicle (February 29, 1940).

Community Music School String Quartet (1926)

Community Music Center string quartet 1926. In the courtyard of CMC. Left to right, Jeanette, Alfred, Preston, Emmet. (source: San Francisco Historic Photograph Collection)

The 1926 might have marked a high point in the early life of the San Francisco Community Music Center (then called the Community Music School). One of their notable successes was their string quartet.  The San Francisco Examiner's esteemed music critic Redfern Mason wrote an May 16, 1926 article that brings to life this photograph from the Library's Historical Photograph Collection.

On Saturday afternoon of Music Week I heard four young people--children, most of them--play a Mozart string quartet.  A week earlier I had listened to them at Santa Monica, when they played for the California Federation of Musical Clubs. They were Jeanette Davis, Preston Hartman, Alfred Bousquet and Emmet Peterson, and they played with such aplomb and put so much joy and beauty into their work that it was a privilege to be there to hear them.

It was no parading of geniuses; there was not a Wunderkind among them. What we saw and heard was much more encouraging to ordinary mortality than that. We sat in our places and, one after the other, little lads and lasses came and played the piano and fiddle--played with manifest pleasure, as if something had come into their lives which lent the moments gladness and took the dullness out of the daily round.

Mason gives names to the members of the string quartet - Jeanette Davis playing first violin, Alfred Bousquet playing second violin, Preston Hartman playing viola, and Emmet Peterson playing 'cello.

The youngest person in the photograph was Jeanette B. Davis.

source: The Violinist (May 1918)

According to earlier newspaper coverage, Jeanette Davis began playing violin at age 5. After studying for only 5 months she was featured at a concert of the Greater San Francisco Conservatory of Music directed by Sigmund Anker. (Anker was Yehudi Menuhin's first teacher). At age 6 she performed at 1920 concert fundraiser for a Jewish temple to be built in the Western Addition. Later that year she performed at a Christmas program at the YMCA on Golden Gate Avenue.

source: San Francisco Examiner (February 6, 1924)

She was featured in a 1924 article in the San Francisco Examiner where she described meeting and playing for virtuoso violinist Jascha Heifetz who told her that she would be "one of the great ones."  The article noted that she was the first violinist in her orchestra at John Swett Junior High School.  She also told the reporter that in addition to playing violin she liked raw carrots and outdoor sports.

She later graduated from Galileo High School in 1931.


Source: The Telescope, Galileo High School (Spring 1931).

That same year she was feted by the San Francisco Symphony for an essay she wrote about music for the San Francisco Young People's Symphony.

Jeanette Davis is pictured at the far right. source: San Francisco Chronicle (January 31, 1931).

Little is known of Jeanette Davis's later music making.  The 1924 article tells us that her mother was Emma Davis.  A search in the Ancestry database revealed that her maiden name was Emma O. Hedberg. The 1930 census shows her working as a hairdresser and living in Daly City with Jeanette.  During the mid-1930s she had a hair-dressing salon in the Outer Richmond.  The same City Directory shows Jeanette living with her and working as a stenographer.  By 1940, a sexagenarian Emma Davis was working as a housekeeper on Nob Hill with Jeanette living nearby.  Mother and daughter lived together or as neighbors through the end of the 1950s.

Ancestry.com provides the following information about Jeanette Betty Davis recorded by the Social Security Administration:

Birth Date:	25 Jan 1915
Birth Place:	San Francisco [San Francisco, California]
Death Date:	23 Apr 2004
Father:	Joseph Davis
Mother:	Emma O Hedberg

The birth year provided is probably not be accurate (The 1930 Census listed her as 16 years old).  If it is, then Jeanette was three and half years old at her concert debut.  The Social Security Administration gave her name variously as Jean and Jeanette.  In 1965 she was listed as Jeanette Betty Vanoss, in 1982 she was listed as Jeanette Betty Kabakoff and at her death in 2004 her name was recorded as Jeanette B. Van Oss.

After 1931, Jeanette Davis largely disappeared from visible concert life.  There is only an announcement for a November 25, 1941 concert of the Chamber Orchestra of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. At this program Marcia Van Dyke (a future member of the San Francisco Symphony and a minor Hollywood star) and a Jeanette Davis played the solo parts the Bach Concerto for Two Violins.

Yet she must have kept up her violin playing.  In the 1948-1949 Polk's Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory has an entry for Jeanette Davis and shows her working as a musician.  In the 1961 and 1962 directories her profession is recorded as "music teacher."  Around the time her last name changed to Van Oss in 1965 her name stopped appearing in the San Francisco directories.

Jeanette B. Davis never lived up to Jascha Heifitz's prediction. It seems that she had a rather difficult life and lived much of her life close to her widowed mother.  But there is evidence that although she did not achieve a name for herself in music, music remained a part of her life and that she profited from it at times.  And hopefully music was a "manifest pleasure" for her as it was when she was a young musician.

In the next entry we will see what became of the other Community Music School String Quartet members.


"Anker String Orchestra Concert," Pacific Coast Musical Review vol. 34, no. 1 (April 6, 1918), 4.

"Community Chest Music Work: Music Talk to Chest Kiddies," San Francisco Chronicle (January 3, 1926).

Ennis, Helen Lewis, "Great Future Expected for 11-Year Old Local Violinist," San Francisco Examiner (February 6, 1924).

"Essay Prize Winners Take Bow at Final Concert by Symphony," San Francisco Chronicle (January 31, 1931).

Mason, Redfern, "The Community Music School Brings Beauty Into Young Life and Helps the Old," San Francisco Examiner May 16, 1926.

"Plans for Jewish Temple To Be Built Here," San Francisco Chronicle (March 18, 1920).

The Telescope (Galileo High School, Spring 1931).

"Thanksgiving Concert To Be Given In San Francisco," Berkeley Daily Gazette (November 19, 1941).

The Most Requested Art, Music and Recreation Center books in November 2017

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster, 2017).

Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury, 2017).

Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe (Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017).

We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That are Funny, Complicated, and True by Gabrielle Union (Dey St.,  2017).

Unqualified: Love and Relationship Advice From a Celebrity Who Just Wants to Help by Anna Faris with Rachel Bertsche (Dutton, 2017)

Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated by Shea Serrano with illustrations by Arturo Torres (Abrams Image, 2017).

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice: The Stories of Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim by Judith Mackrell (Thames & Hudson Inc., 2017).

Generation Wealth by Lauren Greenfield (Phaidon, 2017).

Macramé: The Craft of Creative Knotting for Your Home by Fanny Zedenius (Quadrille Publishing, 2017).

A Stash of One's Own: Knitters on Loving, Living with, and Letting Go of Yarn, an anthology edited by Clara Parkes (Abrams Press, 2017).

Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City, 2001-2011 by Lizzy Goodman (Dey St., 2017).

Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams with Jeannine Amber (Dey St., 2017).

On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor (Simon & Schuster, 2016).


By far, the current block-buster from our collection is Walter Isaacson's new work on Leonardo da Vinci.  While the wait list for this title is currently looks daunting, we have many additional copies on order.

The only holdover from our next most recent list of most requested books of January 2017 is Trevor Noah's Born A Crime.  There are also three books by actresses and comediennes, We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union, Unqualified by Anna Faris and Rabbit by Patricia Williams.

In lists from previous years we have seen memoirs by women singer-songwriters like Patti Smith, Carrie Brownstein, Viv Albertine, Carly Simon, Grace Jones, Chrissie Hynde, and Kim Gordon.  This month, Joni Mitchell is featured in the biography Reckless Daughter by David Yaffe.

The city of New York is highlighted in two titles -- Roz Chast's Going into Town and Meet Me in the Bathroom.  And luxurious living gets a little attention with The Unfinished Palazzo and Generation Wealth.

Crafting books draw steady interest and this month there is a title on Macramé and on knitting -- A Stash of One's Own.  On Trails is an outlier in terms of its subject matter, but it sounds like a fascinating meditation on hiking and nature.

All the titles except Unqualified are available as eBooks.  Many are also available as audio book.  Happy reading.

Vintage Vinyl on the 4th Floor

We are very pleased to introduce a new collection of vinyl recordings to the San Francisco Public Library.  The Library has four "Vinyl Destinations" -- the AV Center on the 1st floor of the Main Library, the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Branch, the Marina Branch, and the Park Branch.

Up to 1989, with the temporary closure of the Main Library following the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the Main Library collected nothing but vinyl recordings.  There are still more than 2,500 records from that collection housed on the 4th floor of the Main Library in the Art, Music and Recreation Center.

While the resurgence of interest in vinyl recordings is exciting, the marketplace for new vinyl seems to only extend to popular music styles like pop, rock, rhythm and blues and rap.  The vintage vinyl collection offers genres of music that we cannot represent well in our new collection like classical music, musical theater, world and folk music, and spoken word recordings.

So after perusing the shiny new vinyl collection on the 1st floor, consider taking an elevator ride to the 4th floor to browse through our eclectic collection of vintage vinyl.

Regional Airplay and National Charts in 1966

The front page of the July 2, 1966 issue of Billboard magazine featured an article entitled "Detroit & L.A. Sales 'Happening Places'."  This article detailed the various the contributions of various regional markets to the national hit charts -- Detroit came on top owing to the song "Cool Jerk" by Capitols, though it's hard to imagine that the Motown label didn't play a role in its prominence.

San Francisco placed third with 7 chart lists.  The article makes special note of the San Jose-based Syndicate of Sound's song "Little Girl" "moving up the charts."

Indeed the song is shown in the 11th position on the weekly charts with a red star given to "sides registering proportionate upward progress" for the week.  (By the way, harkening back to an older era, Frank Sinatra topped that week's chart with "Strangers In The Night."  Representing the new era, The Beatles charted at no. 2 with "Paperback Writer.")

According to Joel Whitburn Presents Top 10 Singles Charts, "Little Girl" peaked at #8 during the week of July 9, 1966, squeezed between "Cool Jerk" by the Capitols at #7 and "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones at #9.  It repeated at #8 the following week of July 16 and then faded away.


According to the Billboard Book of One Hit Wonders, the Syndicate of Sound recorded "Little Girl" on January 9, 1966 at Golden Gate Recorders in San Francisco at 665 Harrison Street.  Leo de Gar Kulka opened Golden State Recorders in 1964 after moving north from Los Angeles and soon began recording many of the bands of the "San Francisco Sound."  In If These Halls Could Talk, Heather Johnson describes it as "one of the few music recording studios in town with a recording room comparable in size to established L.A. and New York facilities."

 source: John In Montana blog

The KFRC Weekly Music Charts 1966-1970 show "Little Girl" charting earlier in the Bay Area.  On May 25, 1966 it was ranked #11, June 1, 1966 at #9 and on June 8, 1966 at #14 on the station's "Big 30."  After that it did appear in the Top 30 again.  It achieved its peak of popularity in the Bay Area a month before its national success. 

This is an interesting time because radio stations were programmed locally and their record charts still reflected local tastes.  That same week "Don't Bring Me Down" by The Animals reached #3 on KFRC, but it never reached Billboard's Top Ten.

 The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders has a brief chapter describing the band's history and the creation of their hit song.  The lead singer recalled: "I had no idea how I would interpret it vocally.  It didn't really work putting melody on top ... so we agreed I'd do it, without a melody, but with attitude."

A black and white video from that time captures that attitude.

The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders by Wayne Jancik (Billboard Books, 1998).

Hall, Claude, "Detroit & L.A. Sales 'Happening Places'." Billboard (July 2, 1966), 1; 26.

If These Halls Could Talk: A Historical Tour Through San Francisco Recording Studios by Heather Johnson (Thomson Course Technology, 2006).

Joel Whitburn Presents Top 10 Singles Charts: Chart Data Compiled from Billboard's Best Sellers in Stores and Hot 100 charts, 1955-2000 (Record Research, 2001).

KFRC Weekly Music Charts. 1966-1970 by Frank W. Hoffmann (Paw Paw Press, 2015).

50 Poison Pieces: a chess puzzle book for beginners

A book talk with nationally ranked chess player Lauren Goodkind

             

Nationally ranked chess player, author, and instructor, Lauren Goodkind, will discuss her new book 50 Poison Pieces: solve 50 puzzles where the unprotected piece is toxic and talk about her life in chess. Lauren will facilitate chess puzzles from her book and chess boards will be set up for free play and Q&A after the discussion. Books will be available for purchase at this event.

Wednesday, September 13th, 2017

6:00pm - 7:30pm

Learning Studio (5th Floor) - Main Library

My Words, My Music - Sunday, August 27

The Art, Music and Recreation Center is please to present My Words, My Music, a family concert presented by Composing Together in the Koret Auditorium at 2 PM, Sunday, August 27.  Composing Together is an organization that has been bringing applied learning music composition into Bay Area middle and high school classrooms for nearly a decade.

My Words, My Music is a fun concert for all ages with a string trio of professional composers accompanying readings of favorite new and old children’s books and original poetry by Composing Together’s Poet in Residence. The grand finale will be a words-and-music "composition” created with the audience members.

This program is supported by a Faculty Enrichment Grant from the San Francisco Community Center.  All programs at the San Francisco Public Library are free and open to the public.

Queen of the French New Wave

When we talk about one of the most enduring cinema movements, we think of the French New Wave. And when we think of the New Wave, we think of its five main directors – Chabrol, Truffaut, Godard, Rivette, and Rohmer – and of course the queen of the French New Wave, Jeanne Moreau, who passed away on July 31, 2017, at the age of 89.

Although she acted only in a handful of films directed by the New Wave Five, it was her film Les Amants by Louise Malle which critics credit with making the the French New Wave possible. Just as her role in Les Amants is a premonition of things to come with regards to the new sensibility about French women of the post-World War II, her performance in the Jules and Jim turned her into the iconic image of the wave.

In 2011, Académie Française introduced a new word into the French language, Attachiante, which refers to a woman one can't live with but also can't live without, as personified by the character Catherine, played by Jeanne Moreau, in François Truffaut's Jules et Jim. She carried the sensibility and essence of the wave beyond, to the roles in movies directed by other contemporary French directors, giving her audience countless memorable performances.


 
We have in our collection at San Francisco Public Library several books DVDs that deal with her life and performance. We recommends some of the following:

Books -

La Moreau : a biography of Jeanne Moreau / Marianne Gray
New York : Donald I. Fine Books
791.4302 M813g 1996

French cinema / by Roy Armes
New York : Oxford University Press, 1985
792.5944 Ar54f

The French cinema book / edited by Michael Temple and Michael Witt
London : BFI Pub.,
2004 791.4309 F887

French cinema since 1950 : personal histories / Emma Wilson
Lanham, Md. : Rowman and Littlefield, c1999
791.4309 W692f

Films –

The bride wore black / directed by Françoise Truffaut
DVD F BRID

La notte / directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
ITALIAN DVD F NOTT

Going places / directed by Bertrand Blier
FRENCH DVD F VALS

Jules et Jim / mise en scène, FrançoisTruffaut
FRENCH DVD F JULE

Les amants / directed by Louis Malle
FRENCH DVD F AMAN

The diary of a chambermaid / directed by Luis Bunuel
FRENCH DVD F JOUR 2001

Emilia Musto Tojetti (1860-1920)

image source: San Francisco Call (April 6, 1910), 16.

The San Francisco Public Library established a Music Department with opening of the former Main Library building in 1917.  Emilia Musto Tojetti is credited with being a driving force behind the Department's creation.  It was Madame Tojetti (as she was often known) who first raised money to add musical scores to the Library's collection.

With the backing of the California Club, Madame Tojetti and others had  advocated for the addition of a "good musical library as an annex to the Free Library." Around 1902 the trustees of the San Francisco Public Library provided funds Madame Tojetti select $100 worth of printed music for the Library collection (this was equivalent to about $2,600 today).  Afterwards the Library appropriated $100 annually to build upon this.  Unfortunately this initial effort at building a score collection was destroyed in the Earthquake and Fire of 1906.

A September 28, 1912 article in the Pacific Coast Musical Review describes her early role:

It was in 1901 that Mme. Emilia Tojetti, of the California Club, first proposed the addition of music to the San Francisco Public Library. George T. Clark, who was then the librarian and the trustees, took up the matter with enthusiasm. Mme. Tojetti suggest the first purchase, and after that one hundred dollars a year was appropriated and Dr. Lisser was consulted in the selection of music.

Emilia Tojetti was the daughter of Joseph Musto who emigrated to San Francisco from Italy in 1851.  He was the patriarch of the family that founded Joseph Musto Sons-Keenan, a firm that imported the marble that went into many post-1906 government buildings, hotels, theatres, churches and mansions in the Bay Area.

Anne Bloomfield and Arthur Bloomfield note in Gables and Fables that "Joseph and Maria [Musto] had seven children, the first five of whom were girls."  The only one of the five to marry was Emilia who married the artist Eduardo Tojetti (1851-1930).  The match must not have been propitious because the Bloomfields also note that after marriage "she returned to the family roost."

There is a record of the marriage of Eduardo Tojetti to Emilia Musto on August 12, 1875 in the Sacramento Daily Union. She would have been 15 years old.  Also known by the first names of Edward and Edwardo, her husband was a prominent artist of that time, in part owing to fame of his father Domenico Tojetti and elder brother Virgilio Tojetti. Eduardo Tojetti is mentioned in standard art references, but it seems that his best and most representative works were interior murals that were also destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

The Daily Alta California of January 18, 1889 shows Emilia Tojetti filing for divorce "on the grounds of violation of marital obligations." A month later, her divorce was granted on "grounds of adultery." ("Millie's Column" in about article about the Tojetti family in the  Chronicle of March 6, 1963 also mentioned her marriage to Eduardo Tojetti. The 1900 Census lists her as Amelia [sic] Tojetti and widowed).

Nevertheless, Emilia Tojetti had embarked on her concert career already by 1885.  In June of that year she presented lecture performance at her house at 807 Pine Street in a concert series for the Impromptu Club with her husband "Prof. E. Tojetti" among those in attendance.  The Club's March 9, 1886 event at their home was presented to "a very select number of friends [who] listened with delight to the brilliant execution of many talented young amateurs."

Madame Tojetti first achieved an independent listing in the 1889 Langley Directory as Emilia Tojetti, residing a 1236 Hyde Street - the Musto family home of that time.  The San Francisco Chronicle of March 4, 1889 concurrently noted that "Mrs. Emilia Tojetti is now residing at the home of her parents where she will receive her friends."  Soon she was active as a concert and performer and as the Secretary of the San Francisco Girls' Union.

She was later a force in the local branch of the California Federation of Women's Clubs, an organization formed in 1900 and devoted to such causes as child labor laws, conservation of redwood forests, earthquake relief and women's suffrage. She became their Chairman of Music and performed and gave lectures.  A history of the organization applauded a speech she gave at their 1914 convention were she gave "an able-bodied assault on ragtime as 'music'."  She told members of the club that they must work to "abolish this pernicious rhythm and melody which is having such a demoralizing effect not only upon children but upon the musicality and ethos of the entire nation."

On December 9, 1915 she joined a group of panelists as a representative of the Pacific Musical Society at a luncheon sponsored by the Recreation League of San Francisco on the topic "Music: Its Place In The Community Life."  She also became a patron of the League's San Francisco People's Orchestra, an organization that aimed to present "the best music at the lowest price" for the working people of the City.

Portrait of Emilia Tojetti from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection


In addition to her work for music and social uplift, Emilia Tojetti was a member of the Vittoria Colonna Club, an Italian-American women's organization in San Francisco, and the Laurel Hall Club.  Both of these organizations offered musical tributes to her after her passing on December 21, 1920.  Her obituary described her as a graduate of San Francisco's Girls High School who learned her musical skills in the City.  She was praised "both as a concert singer and a promoter of good music."

Her will, found in Ancestry.com, directly bequeaths a sum of $500 (the equivalent of more than $6,000 today).

To the Public Library I give five hundred dollars to be used for music for the Music library.

Signed

Emilia Musto Tojetti

Emilia Tojetti's advocacy for a music collection in the San Francisco Public Library was a part of her wider belief in the power of music, specifically European art music, to be a force for the betterment of society.  If ordinary San Franciscans were given the benefit of studying the finest music of the world they would lose interest in the frivolous and harmful musical life then prevalent in the City's bars, theatres and dance halls.  Madame Tojetti would probably be scandalized to learn that today a search for the subject heading Ragtime Music brings up more than 200 results in the San Francisco Public Library catalog. But we are grateful that her vision helped establish an innovation in library service that could serve the musical needs of all.


Bibliography

Anthony, Walter, "La Boheme Will Start Repertoire," San Francisco Call (September 22, 1912), 29.

Anthony, Walter, "La Scala Artists Will Give Brief Season at Cort," San Francisco Chronicle (April 16, 1916), 24.

Anthony, Walter, "Music's Place in Community Life," San Francisco Chronicle (December 5, 1915), 24.

Beals, Elena, "San Francisco's Musical Life Thrives In Spite of the War," Musical America (October 19, 1918), 150-1.

"California Club in Throes of Triangular Fight for President," San Francisco Call (April 6, 1910), 16.

"Divorce Proceedings," Daily Alta California (February 22, 1889), 4.

"The Divorce Record," Daily Alta California (January 18, 1889), 4.

Bloomfield, Anne and Arthur, Gables and Fables: A Portrait of San Francisco's Pacific Heights (Heyday Books, 2007).

Falk, Peter Hastings, Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America / Audrey Lewis, head of research (Sound View Press, 1999).

Gibbs, Jason, "'The Best Music at the Lowest Price': People's Music in San Francisco," MLA Northern California Chapter Newsletter Vol. 17, no. 1 (Fall 2002).

"Girls' Union: Annual Meeting Yesterday at the Home," San Francisco Chronicle (September 17, 1891), 7

Hughes, Edan Milton, Artists in California, 1786-1940 (Crocker Art Museum, 2002).

"The Impromptu Club," Daily Alta California (June 15, 1885), 7.

"The Impromptu Club," San Francisco Chronicle (March 9, 1886), 6.

Langley's San Francisco directory for the year commencing 1889 (Francis, Valentine & Co., 1880- ).

"Married," Sacramento Daily Union (August 17, 1875), 2.

"Miscellaneous," San Francisco Chronicle (March 4, 1889), 4.

"Mme. Tojetti, Art Patron and Singer Dies in Her Home," San Francisco Chronicle (December 22, 1920), 9.

Murray, Elizabeth, "California Women's Clubs," Sunset vol. 10, no. 4 (February 1903), 343-350.

"The Music Division in the Public Library," Argonaut (September 28, 1912), 207.

"Music in a Library," San Francisco Call (August 2, 1895), 14.

"Music in Public Library," Pacific Coast Musical Review vol. 22, no. 26 (September 28, 1912), 4.

A Record of Twenty-Five Years of the California Federation of Women's Clubs, 1900-1925, Volume 1, Handbook for Clubwomen, compiled by Mary S. Gibson (California Federation of Women's Clubs,|c1927).

Robbins, Millie, "The Boys Followed in Papa's Footsteps," San Francisco Chronicle (March 6, 1963), 20.

Robbins, Millie, "Building with Musto Gusto," San Francisco Chronicle (July 30, 1967), 19.

"Want a Music Library," San Francisco Chronicle (December 13, 1902), 14.

Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and the Impressionist Movement: A slide show and lecture by Marlene Aron

It's Paris, 1874 and the world of art is about to change forever. View over eighty works of art by Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Cezanne, Lautrec, Morisot, Sisley, Degas, Van Gogh and Gauguin. Artists who experienced and expressed the world about them each in their own unique and personal way.

These artists gathered together in studios, cafes, bars, and on the streets to talk and argue about art, its meaning, and how and what to paint. Together they shaped the avant-garde world of Impressionism, and in turn opened the doors to the Modern Art Movement of the 20th Century and beyond.

Join Marlene Aron as she presents an in-depth slide lecture on the lives and art of the new, avant-garde artists of the 1800's.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

6:00pm - 7:30pm

Koret Auditorium, Main Library

Hit Parade: Inspired by the Musical Archives of the San Francisco Public Library

Public Knowledge is an ongoing project of the The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  It is an effort to bring art to the community and the community to art and to the museum.  Public Knowledge involves collaborations with scholars, artists and community members.  The current project is a collaboration with the San Francisco Public Library called Hit Parade.

This is our second time working with the Museum of Modern Art. During the summer of 2014 we hosted the Chimerenga Library in collaboration with them and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

The current project includes many components, including public rehearsals and performances - Mission Branch on July 11, 2017, Bayview / Linda Brooks Burton Library on July 12 and Western Additional Branch on July 13.  These same branches had "storytelling" sessions where members of the community spoke of the musical memories.

Another aspect of the project has been researching the library's archival resources for histories and sheet music.  They have created a lively blog that presents some of the treasures they have unearthed from the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection and the Art, Music and Recreation Center of the Library.

Keep returning to visit the Hit Parade blog to see what else the researchers turn up!

The Black Cedar Trio returns

The Art, Music and Recreation Center is pleased to again present the Black Cedar Trio on Sunday, June 18, 2017 at 3:00 PM in the Koret Auditorium.

Black Cedar is the winner of a 2014 Musical Grant from San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music and an affiliate ensemble with San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music.  It is the only ensemble entirely devoted to creating, discovering, and re-imagining chamber music for guitar, cello, and wood flute or alto flute. With this unique mix of sonorities, Black Cedar brings to life Renaissance lute songs and dances, Baroque trio sonatas, Classical and Romantic-era salon pieces, Appalachian folk music, and modern works from living composers.

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television

Gale Research is familiar today as a database provider, but originally they were a publisher of many series of reference works.  In the past these sources were indispensable to librarians and researchers, but over the past few decades much of the information they held has become available online.  Over the intervening years, Gale Research mined many of their print reference books to create very useful and in-depth databases.

One of Gale's reliable research tools was the reference set Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television.  Subtitled "A biographical guide featuring performers, directors, writers, producers, designers, managers, choreographers, technicians, composers, executives, dancers, and critics in the United States, Canada and the world," the first volume of this set was published in 1984.  The print edition of the series ended with the 123rd volume in 2013.

This entire reference set is available as a component of Gale's Biography in Context database.  This database covers many resources, including magazine and newspaper articles, so that the information from Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television can easily lost inside within the search results.  When looking up an individual in this database, you can find the information from this reference set beneath the "Biographies" tab.

This reference set grew out of earlier reference resources, Who's Who In The Theatre and Who Was Who in the Theatre.  The former also included biographies and credits for the London and New York stage.  The text of some of its volumes are also included in the Biography in Context database.

Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television presents much of its information like a resume - film, television and stage credits, awards, guest appearances, etc... Online resources like the Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia can provide much of this same information.  But the listings on these websites can be limited or too sprawling to be easily scanned.  The reference database also includes contact information and a bibliography.  The information cannot be as up-to-date as internet sources, but it is clearly and accurately presented.

While our reflexes often suggest that we should go to search engines to find information about every personality that we are searching for, the Library's subscription databases are very solid resources that should not be overlooked.  The vast Biography in Context database can also bring a wide range of additional information to our attention.

Biography In Context [database]

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television (Gale Research Co., 1984-2013).

Who's Who in the Theatre (Pitman; Gale Research, 1912-1981).

Who Was Who in the Theatre, 1912-1976: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Directors, Playwrights, and Producers of the English-Speaking Theatre / compiled from Who's Who in the Theatre, volumes 1-15 (1912-1972) (Gale Research Co., 1978).

Vintage Talking Books

Cover art from The Black Cat, read by Arthur Luce Klein

Today we are very familiar with audio eBooks - digital sound files of literary works that can either be streamed or downloaded.  Until recently spoken work compact discs were another popular form of talking book.  And, of course, audio cassettes were the format that was responsible for making the talking book such a popular medium.

These three formats all had the virtue of being portable -- they could be listened to through a car stereo, walkman or mp3 player.  The very first books on tape (audio cassette format) were introduced in 1969 and could have up to an hour of continuous recitation on a side.  Spoken books on compact disc began to appear during the 1990s and could contain up to 74 minutes per side (and had a higher audio quality).  Streaming audio appeared not long afterward and could present a continuous narration of any duration.

There is a pre-history to this consumer-friendly, portable form of enjoying talking books.  The earliest talking books were manufactured on vinyl records that played at the slower speed of 16 2/3 rotations per minute.  For a period of time, many record players had settings for 16 2/3 rpm, 33 1/3 rpm (the long playing record), 45 rpm (the single) and 78 rpm (the much earlier shellac record).

The rule of thumb with audio recording is faster speeds mean better sound.  This slower speed worked because the spoken word does not need to have the same rich audio spectrum as music.  A 12 inch disc played at 16 2/3 rpm could have an hour of music per side, whereas a 33 rpm record could own contain a half hour.  The Library of Congress began issuing records at the speed in 1962 to serve the blind community and later even issued recordings the slower 8 1/3 rpm speed.

A blurb on the back of The Pit And The Pendulum (1972)

We do not have any of these slower recordings in our collection, but we do have sizeable collection of 12 inch vinyl spoken word records played at 33 1/3.  These include plays, poetry, legends, speeches and stories.

You can browse our holdings of literature on vinyl by searching for the call number LIT PD (Literature Phonodisc).

Because of their relative brevity, the stories of Edgar Allan Poe could provide a fulfilling vintage audio book experience.  Below is a listing of Poe stories on vinyl in our collection.


The Black Cat; read by Arthur Luce Klein (Spoken Arts, s.d.).

A Descent Into The Maelström; read by Paul Hecht (Spoken Arts, s.d.).

The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar; read by Arthur Luce Klein (Spoken Arts, s.d.).

The Murders In The Rue Morgue; read by Arthur Luce Klein (Spoken Arts, 1970?).

The Pit And The Pendulum; read by Edward Blake (Listening Library, 1972).

The Pit And The Pendulum; read by Alexander Scourby (Spoken Arts, 1962).

The Purloined Letter; read by Arthur Luce Klein (Spoken Arts, s.d.).


Bibliography:

Dicecco, Mike, "A History of 16-RPM Records, Part Two: Audio Books,"  Antique Phonograph News
Canadian Antique Phonograph Society (May-June 2010).

Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Frank Hoffmann, editor (Routledge, 2005).

The Jazz Standards: A Guide To The Repertoire

As one comes to know and appreciate jazz, it becomes apparent that jazz musicians create their own compositions, avail themselves of other jazz compositions, or utilize familiar songs that have become known as "standards."  Standards are often songs from the Broadway stage, but can be any popular tune from the recorded era.  The standard provides a form (verse, chorus, sometimes bridge), a chord progression and a melody that is played at the beginning and end.

With his guide, The Jazz Standards, Ted Gioia provides a great service to anyone interested in exploring jazz by discussing more than 200 of the best known melodies employed in the jazz repertoire.  His entries first give some background on a melody's pre-jazz origins.  He also shares his personal response to each standard often highlighting some of his favorite renditions.  The end of each entry includes a short discography of his preferred recordings.

Despite disliking the melody and chord changes of "All The Things You Are" by Jerome Kern, the author claims it as a favorite standard of his.  He appreciates it for its "exciting set of possibilities as a springboard for jazz improvisation."  The song first appeared in the 1939 musical flop Very Warm For May , but it soon grabbed the attention of jazz musicians.  By the end of the year Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra introduced it and took it to the top of the charts.  The author spoke to saxophonist Bud Shank near the end of his 60 year career "who never felt he had exhausted the possibilities of this specific song."

Writing about "I'm In The Mood For Love," by the standard-making songwriting team of Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Field, Gioia noted that it had the misfortune to be prominently sung by the character of Alfalfa in a Little Rascals short. However, that was already a year after the song had been introduced by Frances Langford in the film Every Night At 8, released in August 5, 1935. The review in Variety magazine noted that "she reprises 'I'm in the Mood for Love' several times" but predicted other songs from the movie would get more attention from the jazz orchestras.  Variety was proven wrong when Louis Armstrong powered it to number 3 on the charts a few months later, assuring its status as a standard.

While he sort of disparages one of my favorites, Vincent Youmans' and Irving Ceasar's "Tea For Two, ("the melody is monotonous and akin to a second-rate nursery song"), Gioia illuminates the song nonetheless.  He repeats the apocryphal tale about how Harry Frazee, the backer of the song's show No, No Nanette, sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees to finance his show.  I enjoyed reading about Dmitri Shostakovich's scoring of the song for orchestra (see volume 10 of the composer's collection works - Sobranie sochineniĭ v soroka dvukh tomakh).  Gioia is at is best when he tells of how New York's finest jazz pianists seemed to try one-up each other with more brilliant renditions of this tune.

Many of these songs are well established within the Great American Songbook making the contents of this book elide well with our Dorothy Starr Collection of sheet music. The cover illustrations above all come from the collection.  You will not find yourself always agreeing with Gioia's assessments, but he takes us on an entertaining and informative journey through this repertoire and will certainly entice you to listen to more jazz.

Art Tatum playing "Tea for two"

The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire by Ted Gioia (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories, 1890-1954: The History of American Popular Music: Compiled from America's popular music charts 1890-1954 (Record Research, 1986).

Sobranie sochineniĭ v soroka dvukh tomakh, volume 10, by D. Shostakovich (Muzyka, 1979-1987).

Variety Film Reviews, volume 5 (Garland Pub., 1983).

Sheet music:


"All The Things You Are," music by Jerome Kern (Chappell & Co. Inc., 1939).


"I'm In The Mood For Love," words and music by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields (Robbins Music Corporation, 1935).

"Tea For Two," music by Vincent Youmans (Harms Inc., 1924).

Blossom Dearie singing "Tea for two"

Ballroom Dancing in the Art, Music and Recreation Center Newspaper Clipping Files

One of the tools of the old school reference librarian is the vertical file or newspaper clipping file.  Even as more information is available to be searched on the internet and through databases, the Art, Music and Recreation Center continues to maintain and add to our files.  In recent years we have been adding quite a bit less because we have stopped clipping articles from the San Francisco Chronicle (which has a strong online presence and a database that we subscribe to).  But we continue make an effort to locate material in neighborhood and weekly papers.

Browsing through these files is always a serendipitous experience.  You never know what you will find.  In this entry, we will present a small snapshot of the sort of articles one might find using the Ballroom Dancing file.

Ballroom dance is an activity that takes place away from the glare of the public  spotlight and involves amateurs and enthusiasts of all backgrounds.  Skimming through this folder of at least 100 clippings one can see ballroom dancing as a continuous current flowing through our city's cultural life.

"Allure of Swinging Attracts Fans of All Ages to Amura Ballroom Dance Studio" by Shiela Husting appeared in the Sunset Beacon in July 2007.  This article lists six dance studios in the Sunset District.  Unfortunately, the Amura Ballroom Dance Studio has since shut down, despite rave reviews online.

"Ballroom Dancing Remains on the Hill," by Christina Li appeared in The Potrero View of June 2008.  It discusses Cheryl Burke Dance taking over the space at 17th and DeHaro that was occupied for 17 years by the Metronome Ballroom.  Both of these studios represent the past of 1830 17th Street which is scheduled to be torn down so the Smuin Ballet can build a studio there.

"

"It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing!," by Karen Ahn appeared in San Francisco Downtown in July 1998.  This article discusses a swing dance revival at spaces like Bimbo's, Cafe du Nord and The Inferno Lounge.

"Tea Dancing" by Joan Hockaday appeared in the San Francisco Progress on December 2, 1979.  It describes a Friday night tea dancing event held at the Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero.

"Strictly Ballroom, Dancing Classes for Kids," by Angela Neal Richardson appeared in the Nob Hill Gazette of October 1993.  This article discusses The Mid-Weeklies, a series of dance classes for 6th, 7th and 8th graders.  Dance is also taught to these children as a form of social etiquette.

"Strictly Ballroom... and Tango, Swing, Cha Cha..." by Kevin Davis appeared in The Guardsman, the student newspaper of the City College of San Francisco.  This article discusses the school's ballroom dance classes.  It includes this fascinating information: "The 2,200-strong dance community at City College is really a cult-like entity unto itself, extending out  to a wide, underground movement."

Our newspaper clipping files provide a small window into this "underground" world.  It shows that there is a devoted subculture of San Franciscans who sustain this art form.  The popularity of different dance forms may wax and wane, dance venues may come and go, but the continuous enthusiasm and activity of these dancers remains documented in our files.

We have collected information into files on all aspects of the visual and performing arts as well as sports and recreation.  We also have biographical files on visual and performing artists.  Here are links to the indexes of our vertical file collection.

• Newspaper Clipping File - Subject Index

• Bay Area Musicians and Performing Artists Index
• Bay Area Visual Artists and Architects Index