Manuela Valera Budrow (1876-1966), also known as Manuela Budrow Rafferty, was a Spanish-born American soprano, composer, and music educator based in Southern California.
Manuela Valera Budrow (1876-1966), also known as Manuela Budrow Rafferty, was a Spanish-born American soprano, composer, and music educator based in Southern California.
Manuela Valera was born in Spain [1] and studied music in Madrid. [2]
Budrow sang in Mexico and in Los Angeles, California, where she was a regular concert performer and a soloist at several churches. [1] She was especially known for performing the works of Charles Wakefield Cadman. [3] [4] She was also a popular performer in Santa Ana, California, where she lived after 1923, [5] and where she directed a church choir. [6]
Describing her voice, the Santa Ana Register said "Hers is an organ that defies absolute classificationas it is at will dramatic, lyrical, florid, brilliant, mellow, warm or cold. It possesses all the charming characteristics of the Spanish voice and the idiosyncrasies peculiar to the methods of Latin race vocalists, being most successful in the temperamental type of music native to the southern climes." [7] Late in life, she was a faculty member of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Arts. [8]
She was a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the California Music Teachers Association, and the Orange County Council of Catholic Women. She was on the faculty of the Anaheim Conservatory or Music from 1924 to 1926. [9] [10]
In 1929, as sound pictures began production, Budrow opened a studio in Hollywood, while still teaching voice classes on weekends in Santa Ana. [11] [12] She composed music for two films, The Tia Juana Kid and The Irish Gringo, both released in 1935. [13] She also wrote a musical play, Brigands of the Sea, [14] and wrote the music for another, The Mystery of Dolores of Las Flores Rancho. [15]
Manuela Valera married William Budrow, an American engineer who worked in South America. They had a son Robert Gabriel (1905-1963), and two daughters, Rebecca (1907-1994) and Mary Louise (1910-2005); the children were born in Mexico. Manuela Budrow was widowed in 1922, while her children were young, and moved to Santa Ana to live closer to her husband's family. [16] She married again in 1930, and was a widow again when her second husband Fred Rafferty died Feb 22, 1931, from pneumonia. [17] Manuela Valera Budrow Rafferty died in 1966, aged 90 years. Her gravesite is in Santa Ana, California. [18]
Orange County is a county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, and more populous than 19 American states and Washington, D.C. Although largely suburban, it is the second-most-densely-populated county in the state behind San Francisco County. The county's three most-populous cities are Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, each of which has a population exceeding 300,000. Santa Ana is also the county seat. Six cities in Orange County are on the Pacific coast: Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente.
Anaheim is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most populous city in California, and the 55th-most populous city in the United States. The second largest city in Orange County in terms of land area, Anaheim is known for being the home of the Disneyland Resort, the Anaheim Convention Center, and two major league sports teams: the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Orange County Line is a commuter rail line run by Metrolink from Los Angeles through Orange County to Oceanside in San Diego County, connecting with the Coaster commuter rail service to San Diego. The Orange County Line carries passengers to the primary Metrolink hub at L.A. Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, as well as to many attractions in Orange County including the Knott's Berry Farm area, Angel Stadium of Anaheim and the Honda Center, the Disneyland Resort, Old Town Orange, Santa Ana Zoo, Mission San Juan Capistrano and many more. In San Diego County, it serves the Oceanside Pier and Camp Pendelton.
KDOC-TV is a religious television station licensed to Anaheim, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as an owned-and-operated station of Tri-State Christian Television (TCT). The station maintains studios on East First Street in Santa Ana, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.
The Orange County Register is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The Register, published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital First Media News subsidiaries.
Charles Wakefield Cadman was an American composer. For 40 years, he worked closely with Nelle Richmond Eberhart, who wrote most of the texts to his songs, including Four American Indian Songs. She also wrote the librettos for his five operas, two of which were based on Indian themes. He composed in a wide variety of genres.
Virginia Brown Faire was an American silent film actress, appearing in dramatic films and, later, in sound westerns.
Gertrude Olmstead was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 56 films between 1920 and 1929. Her last name was sometimes seen as Olmsted.
Shanewis (1918) is an opera in one act and two scenes by American composer Charles Wakefield Cadman with an English-language libretto by Nelle Richmond Eberhart. Cadman called the work an "American opera."
Betty Jane Rhodes was an American actress and singer, most active in film during the late 1930s and the World War II era. She was also known as Jane Rhodes.
Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone was a Muscogee singer, performer, and Native American activist, born in Eufaula, Oklahoma, within the Muscogee Nation. She was born to Cherokee and Creek parents and stood out from her 9 siblings musically. From 1908 she toured regularly with Charles Wakefield Cadman, a composer and pianist who gave lectures about Native American music that were accompanied by his compositions and her singing. He composed classically based works associated with the Indianist movement. They toured in the United States and Europe.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Santa Ana, California, USA.
The 1977 Long Beach State 49ers football team represented California State University, Long Beach during the 1977 NCAA Division I football season.
Jeanne Jomelli was a Dutch soprano opera singer, concert singer, and music educator.
Clara Pasvolsky was a Russian contralto singer.
Constance L. Balfour was an American soprano, based in California.
Mandel's was a chain of shoe stores in the Southwestern United States for many decades of the 20th century. For a time it advertised its wares as "Mandel's Fascinating Slippers". Maurice Mandel headed up the stores through the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Later Mandel would later serve as General Merchandise Manager (GMM) of chain Mullen & Bluett and president of Harris & Frank. Among its branches were:
Charlotte Pierce was an American actress in silent films.
Zhay Clark was an American harpist.
Abbie Norton Jamison was an American pianist, composer and clubwoman, based in Los Angeles. She was first vice-president of the National Federation of Music Clubs in 1915, president of the California Music Teachers Association, and president of the California Federation of Music Clubs.
