Carleen Maley Hutchins (May 24, 1911 – August 7, 2009) was an American high school science teacher, violin-maker and researcher, best known for her creation, in the 1950s/60s, of a family of eight proportionally sized violins now known as the violin octet (e.g., the vertical viola) and for a considerable body of research into the acoustics of violins. She was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and worked at her home in Montclair, New Jersey.

Early life and education

Carleen Hutchins spent her childhood in New Jersey exploring the outdoors and her interests in entomology and woodworking; she was an active participant in her local Girl Scouts of the USA troop. In 6th grade, she took shop class instead of home economics and further developed her interest in wood-working during the 1920s. In 1949 she completed her viola and showed it to Swiss luthier Karl A. Berger; over the next six years, Hutchins studied with Berger, building about 30 different instruments, mostly violas. In 1962 she published her first article in the Scientific American "The Physics of Violins" and attended her first Acoustical Society of America meeting in 1963.

creator-in-chief of the Violin Octet, author of more than 100 technical publications, editor of two volumes of collected papers in violin acoustics, four grants from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, an Honorary Fellowship from the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), and four honorary doctorates. In 1981, Hutchins also received the ASA Silver Medal in Musical Acoustics.

In 1974, Hutchins and Daniel W. Haines, using materials supplied by the Hercules Materials Company, Inc. (Allegany Ballistics Laboratory) of Cumberland, Maryland, developed a graphite-epoxy composite top that was determined to be a successful alternative to the traditional use of spruce for the violin belly.

In Cormac McCarthy's novel Stella Maris, the main character, Alicia, talks about corresponding with Hutchins.

References

Notes

Further reading

  • American Luthier: Carleen Hutchins—the Art and Science of the Violin by Quincy Whitney, Foredge, 2016,
  • The Carleen Hutchins Collection/Archive
  • The Hutchins Consort
  • "Carleen Hutchins, Innovative Violin Maker, Is Dead at 98," New York Times, August 8, 2009
  • Chris Waltham; American Luthier: Carleen Hutchins—the Art and Science of the Violin. Physics Today 1 February 2017; 70 (2): 60. https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3468
  • Quincy Whitney; American Luthier: The Art and Science of Carleen Hutchins. Acoustics Today Spring 2020; 16 (1)