Quincy Whitney will visit the Toadstool Bookshop to discuss her new biography “American Luthier: Carleen Hutchins, the Art and Science of the Violin” on Saturday, May 14, at 2 p.m.
This book tells the story of the 20th-century violinmaker who began carving fiddles in her kitchen and then went on to invent a new family of violins.
The only American and the only woman luthier ever to be honored in Cremona, Italy, birthplace of Stradivari, is Carleen Hutchins (1911–2009), who pioneered acoustical physics in violinmaking. The most innovative violinmaker of the modern age, Hutchins set out to explore two worlds she knew virtually nothing about — violins and acoustical physics.
“American Luthier” chronicles the life of this unsung woman who altered everything in a world that had changed little in three centuries. Not only did Hutchins create a new, louder and more dynamic violin, she created a new family of fiddles, the octet. In the 1950s Hutchins was a grade school science teacher, amateur trumpet player, and New Jersey housewife. When musical friends asked her to trade a trumpet for a $75 viola, she decided to try making one, thus setting in motion a surprising career.
Hutchins’ violin octets reside in various museum collections including the National Music Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the University of Edinburgh. The Hutchins Consort of San Diego, California, the only professional ensemble in the world that owns and plays a Hutchins violin octet, performs a wide repertoire ranging from medieval and classical to jazz and modern music.
Quincy lives in New Hampshiare and is the author of “Hidden HIstory of New Hampshire.”
This event is free and all are welcome.
For more information, call the bookstore at 924-3543.