Romance to Find Its Meter at O.C. Baroque Festival

As Valentine’s Day approached, Jerry Dauderman of Newport Beach pondered a number of gift options for his wife, Roberta: roses, chocolates, a concerto . . .

He settled on music dedicated to his wife, and he commissioned it through the Baroque Music Festival Corona del Mar. His gift will be delivered Sunday afternoon, at the festival’s opening concert.

The work is Chorale, Arioso and Gigue for Organ and Orchestra by James Hopkins, a music professor at USC who added the subtitle “Memories of Courtship” upon learning of a chain of coincidences involving the Daudermans.

“My wife played the organ through college,” Dauderman explained. “In fact we met at a church. . . . I was living with my uncle up in the top of the church. This young lady would come and practice organ, pull out all the stops like Bach said you should, and shake the rafters, and I would come down out of my apartment, and things went from there.

“The second amusing thing that’s happened is that Bach’s ‘Wachet auf (Sleepers Wake)’ was the processional at our wedding. That piece is very important to us. Totally by coincidence, it seems to be the theme that Hopkins has used.”

Hopkins was unaware that Roberta Dauderman had been an organist or that “Sleepers Wake” held sentimental significance for the couple. His work--scored for organ and, he said, “flute, oboe, optional bassoon and absolutely necessary strings”--is indeed a set of variations based on Bach’s chorale. Hopkins will meet the Daudermans for the first time this weekend.

Soloists for the premiere include organist Daniel Kerr, flutist Stephen Schultz and oboist Gonzalo Ruiz. Also on the program at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church is music by Bach and the Southern California premiere of a Concerto in B minor for flute, oboe and strings by Johann Friedrich Fasch, prepared by festival director Burton Karson from unpublished manuscripts at Archducal Library in Darmstadt, Germany.

According to Hopkins (who has just been named composer-in-residence at the Pacific Chorale for two years), the Dauderman commission began last fall with a phone call from Karson.

“He asked if I’d be interested in writing a piece for his Baroque festival, with the one stipulation that it be neo-Baroque,” Hopkins recalls. “I said, ‘Now Burton, I don’t know what neo-Baroque is.’ He said, ‘You know. . . ,’ and I said, ‘No, I don’t know. We use ‘neoclassical’ as a term. . . . Can you give me an example?’

“There was an appalling silence. He said, ‘Trills and ornaments . . . clarity . . .’ Anyway, it became a bit clearer as he talked.

“I teach counterpoint,” Hopkins continued, “and I’m a church organist, 16 years at United First Methodist Church in Pasadena. ‘Wachet auf’ happens to be one of my favorites. . . . I just arbitrarily chose it as the basis for a three-movement work.”

Dauderman is the former owner of Nautilus Plus Fitness Centers and is involved in several ventures in China. Karson had some concerns when he first met them:

“When I heard they’d been in Colombia for many years, I thought, ‘Colombia, oh my God!’ It turned out they’d been missionaries.”

The Daudermans, staunch supporters of the festival, have no reservations about Karson.

“While there are coincidences, good things happen to good people,” Jerry Dauderman said. “Burton is one of those good people.”

* The Baroque Music Festival Corona del Mar begins Sunday at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, 3233 Pacific View Drive. 4 p.m. $25. (714) 760-7887.

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THE BAROQUE MUSIC FESTIVAL CORONA DEL MAR

The 1996 season:

* Sunday at 4 p.m., St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church ($25): Concertos by Bach and Fasch, and the premiere of Chorale, Arioso and Gigue for Organ and Orchestra by James Hopkins. Soloists: flutist Stephen Schultz, oboist Gonzalo Ruiz, harpsichordist Yuko Tanaka and organist Daniel Kerr.

* Monday at 8 p.m., St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church ($10): Organ recital by Kerr; works by Bach and American composers Seth Bingham (“Baroques”) and Gerald Near (“Triptych and Fugue”).

* Wednesday at 8 p.m., Sherman Library and Gardens ($30): Vivaldi cantatas and a Telemann concerto. Soloists: soprano Jennifer Foster, countertenor Alejandro Garri, tenor Mark Goodrich, baritone Christopher Lindbloom, flutist Schultz.

* Friday at 8 p.m., Sherman Library and Gardens ($30): Solo and trio sonatas by Bach, Albinoni and Telemann. Violinist Clayton Haslop, flutist Louise DiTullio, cellist Cecilia Tson and harpsichordist Gabriel Arregui.

* June 23 at 4 p.m., St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church ($25): Works by Bach (“Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott”) and two Czech composers, Ludovicus Poppe (whose 17th-century compositions were discovered by festival director Burton Karson last year in Prague) and Ceslov Vanura.

St. Michael and All Angels Church is at 3233 Pacific View Drive, and Sherman Library and Gardens is at 2645 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. Alfresco music for brass precedes the Wednesday and Friday concerts. Wine and waters receptions follow all concerts. (714) 760-7887.