Journalist and professor Ted Gup thought he knew his grandfather, Sam Stone. But Stone had a secret that he took to his grave. It wasn’t until Gup’s mother handed Gup an old weathered suitcase filled with letters that the old man’s secret was finally revealed. And when Gup began reading these letters, he delved into his grandfather’s past and discovered that Stone had helped scores of people with cash gifts during the height of the Great Depression. None of the recipients knew who their benefactor was. That was how Stone wanted it. And it wasn’t until Gup decided to write a book telling the story behind these letters that Stone’s identity was revealed. Gup’s A Secret Gift, published in 2010, makes for compelling reading.

Phillip Bimstein

When composer/performer Phillip Bimstein heard about it, he immediately saw the possibilities of writing a piece of music based on the book. “I read about it in an op-ed piece that the New York Times ran a couple of weeks before Christmas,” Bimstein told Reichel Recommends. “That was three years ago and before the book was published. I was moved by what I read. I could hear the music lifting off the page.” But before Bimstein could start working on it, he needed Gup’s permission. “He said he loved the idea.” And after clearing some hurdles with Gup’s published, Bimstein got the green light to go ahead.

The letters in the suitcase were from people responding to an ad in the Canton (Ohio) Repository placed about a week before Christmas in 1933 by a “B. Virdot,” who offered $10 to 50-75 families in need. All they had to do was write a letter describing their need and mail it to general delivery in Canton. The response was tremendous. It was so huge, in fact, that “B. Virdot” (who, of course, was Gup’s grandfather) decided to reduce to amount to $5 so he could help out twice as many families. Today, $5 or $10 doesn’t seem like much, but it was the equivalent of about $100 in 2012 dollars and could buy food and other basic necessities for a family.

Bimstein took a dozen letters and used them as the basis for lyrics for what was to become his song cycle of the same name. “Most of the lyrics are my own,” Bimstein said, “but I took a phrase or two from some of the letters and used them in the lyrics.” What comes through in these songs (and in the letters) is hope, Bimstein said. “Of course, it deals about hard times, but the cycle is about generosity and humanity.”

Gup was taken with Bimstein’s song cycle. “He brought us (Red Rock Rondo) out to Canton for the book’s debut, where we previewed parts of the cycle.”

By the time Gup’s book was published all except one of the letter writers had passed away. When Bimstein and the others in Red Rock Rondo were in Canton, they got to meet many of the letter writers’ children. And they also met the only remaining letter writer. “That was Helen Palm,” Bimstein said. “She was 91 then and in a wheelchair.” Palm was 14 when she sent in her letter telling the anonymous donor how her family needed clothes and how she wished they could have food for Christmas dinner. “That song, ‘Dear Sir,’ is one of the most literal songs in the cycle,” Bimstein said. Palm passed away a few months ago.

Red Rock Rondo

Meeting these people affected Bimstein and his colleagues. “As a group it was great to meet everyone,” he said. “We got so immersed in their stories. It was very moving for us to be involved.”

Bimstein wrote his cycle in two versions, one just for his Red Rock Rondo ensemble (which besides Bimstein also includes Kate MacLeod, Hal Cannon, Charlotte Bell, Flavia Cerviño-Wood and Harold Carr) and the other for the ensemble with orchestra. The Salt Lake Symphony recorded the work last fall and the CD will be released in September. Visit Red Rock Rondo’s website here for more information.

A Secret Gift will be performed this coming Sunday in the Cathedral of the Madeleine as part of the Madeleine Festival. “Performing at the Madeleine is close to my heart,” Bimstein said, in part because Red Rock Rondo has performed there in the past. It was also where he met future Red Rock Rondo member and best friend Hal Cannon and his wife Teresa. But more importantly the cathedral holds a special place for Bimstein because it was where he met his partner, Charlotte Bell, in 1998. (Besides playing in Red Rock Rondo, Bell is also an oboist with the Salt Lake Symphony.)

When people hear A Secret Gift this Sunday Bimstein hopes they will be as touched by it as he has been. “It’s about the essence of generosity and about the impact a small gift has on people.”

• CONCERT INFO:
• What: Red Rock Rondo
• Venue: Cathedral of the Madeleine
• Time and Date: 8 p.m. May 13
• Tickets: Free
• Phone: 801-328-8941
• Web: utcotm.org