Antique dealer speaks to historical society

John Bottero, of the Thomaston Place Auction Gallaries, gave the program at the Westbrook Historical Society April 6. He gave members information about the antique objects they had brought, and also appraised their value. He made it a very interesting program, and it was fun to see what members were interested in collecting.

Ellie Saunders told me that, after the program, Mr. Bottero tried hard to get to the refreshment table, but he was stopped often with more questions from interested members.

During the business meeting, conducted by President Rob Smith, members were told a recent acquisition, an 1857 Cumberland County wall map in excellent condition, donated by Leslie and Elizabeth Smith. He was president of Westbrook High School’s Class of 1953.

A moment of silent prayer was held as a tribute to our society member Philip Spiller, who recently passed away. He will be greatly missed.

The objects which members brought to the meeting showed great variety. Ellie Saunders kindly wrote up this list for me. Included were gold watches; “Books and Manners and Dress,” 1891 (Bottero said that every high school should have one); a Rose Medallion five piece set (the owner has more at home); Oriental vase; Portrait vase; wooden ballaster; very old pictures of Washington, D.C., with autographs; a niddy-noddy (hand reel for yarn); large cranberry glass lamp; several sizes of postle spoons, in sets; stoneware bottle; tiny mesh change purse; depression glass compote; china match holder, shaped like a boot; ship doorstep; Oriental ginger jar; large reverse painting of a castle, with a lovely Victorian frame; photo album with music box attached; Ironstone shaving mug, Boston; small iron bulldog (mascot); Bristol vase painted; sharpener tool; driving lamp; and a small prohibition figurine.

John Bottero’s program was a real success.

Signs of spring

On Saturday, I enjoyed my first walk in Capisic Pond Park, since last fall. The snow on the trail has finally melted away, and it was a pleasure to return to one of my favorite walking areas.

Also, that evening we had supper at the Good Table in Cape Elizabeth, and as I parked the car, I noticed four pretty little lavender crocuses, in full bloom, on the lawn by the entrance. What a surprise. I wondered if the owners had planted them there recently, no, they are just early arrivals, and the first I have seen since last Spring.

Tea for WLU board

On Wednesday, April 6, the president and board of trustees of the University of New England invited members of the board of directors of the Woman’s Literary Union to a tea at the Westbrook College campus.

It was a nice gesture, and it was appreciated by all present. It’s nice to sip our coffee from china cups, and the refreshments were delicious. Popular were the bite-sized A?©clairs (well, maybe two bites), placed in a glass dish surrounded by slices of melon. Other fruits were grapes, strawberry slices. Many cookies included, and cheese slices. It was an attractive display too.

President Sandra Featherman greeted us and gave us a “resume” of changes and the growing enrollment there on the Westbrook campus, including renovations of the former home of an early president of Westbrook Junior College, Dr. Proctor. More room will be made for students’ dormitory space.

Several of us at the tea were former students on that campus, and we were very pleased with all the new building and improvements ongoing.

DaPonte String Quartet’s April 7 concert

The final concert of the Noonday Concert series, April 7, at the First Parish Church in Portland, was much appreciated by the large audience. Members of the quartet are Ferdinand Liva, violin; Stephane Tran Ngoc, violin; Mark Preston, viola; and Myles Jordan, cello. The quartet has a national and international reputation, but also dedicated to present classical music in rural settings to children and adults with limited opportunity to hear chamber music. (We learned this from the excellent program notes).

The String Quartet No. 1 by Erwin Schuloff was listed first on the program, to be followed by Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 18, No. 21, but the violinist announced that they would play the Beethoven first. It was beautifully played. These four men all play superbly. Their many hours of practicing together make it seem easy, but this Portland audience seemed to appreciate all the skill involved. Some listeners near me were bobbing their heads, showing their familiarity with the four movements, Adagion, Adagio cantabile, Scherzo and Trio, and Allegro moto, quasi presto.

At the end of the Beethoven quartet, the audience’s applause was prolonged.

And next, the Schulhoff – but were others familiar with him? I had not heard of him and decided that he was surely a contemporary composer. The program notes told that the Philadelphia Inquirer said, “A performance of Schulhoff was intense, artful and coherent.” I was very interested in hearing the four instruments individuallly at times, each performer having passages on his instrument as a solo, even the viola, and often the cello. There was such pizzacato plucking, too.

After the concert, I went to the library to look up Schulhoff, a Czech composer and pianist, in the New Grove Dictionary and, no, he was not contemporary. He was born in Prague June 8, 1894, and died in Wulzbourg, Aug. 18, 1942. On Dvorak’s advice, he studied with Kaan at the Prague Conservatory (1904-6). He then studied in Vienna and the conservatories of Leipzig and Cologne, and he had lessons with Reger and Debussy.

He returned to Prague, taught piano, and gave many piano recitals. He was active as a jazz pianist from early 1920s. He had responded to the trends of the day, from Germanic late Romanticism to impressionism, expressionism, the use of jazz, neo-classicism, socialist realism and Bartokian folklorism.

And now comes the tragedy – he had been a Communist from the early 1930s and after the Munich agreement he took Soviet citizenship; his political views and his Jewish origin led to his imprisonment during the German occupation, and to his death in a concentration camp. (All that musical training and ability, and yet he died at the age of 48, and tragically).

I wanted to hear his quartet all over again, after reading that sad account.

Recipe

This week’s recipe is from “Cooking Within Your Income” by Ida Bailey Allen, whose broadcast on radio for several years, Fods, Nutrition and Homemaking.

Escalloped Chicken With Rice And Asparagus

About 2 cups diced cooked chicken

2-l/2 cups medium thick white sauce

or part sauce and chicken gravy

2 cups flaky boiled rice

2 cups diced cooked or canned asparagus

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs

2 Tbls. butter or margarin

Heat the chicken in the sauce. Rub a good-sized baking dish with butter or margarine. In the bottom, put a layer of rice and over this a layer of chicken; then put on a thin layer of asparagus. Continue in this way until all the ingredients are used. Finish with the bread crumbs mixed with the butter or margarine which should be melted. Brown in a moderately hot oven, 350 degrees, about 30 minutes.

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