Page 14 - Spring2020

American Luthier: The Art and Science of Carleen Hutchins
The diagnosis was breast cancer, although it was never named in the family logbook. Carleen had long ago concluded that her breast cancer was evidence of remorse about having to choose between a career (several good job offers) and moth- erhood. “This was 1945–1946. I made a list of what would happen if I took each job — and I figured I couldn’t stay mar- ried. I went back to Brearley and was miserable there because I knew what I could have done.”9
Through her surgeon, Hutchins learned that her anesthesiologist, Dr. Virginia Apgar (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Apgar), played viola! On the night before the operation, Apgar poked her head around the corner to meet her patient.
Before they even discussed the upcoming operation, Carleen went for the jugular: “Dr. Haagenson suggested you might
9 Interview, D. Quincy Whitney (DQW), Notebook 1, 1.17.
be interested in one of my violas; it’s in the closet. Would you like to see it?” Where upon Apgar took up SUS 23 and spent the rest of the time playing it right in the middle of Clarkman Pavillion, much to the enjoyment of nurses on the floor.10 Later, Apgar admitted that she had been so distracted with playing the viola, she had to return to room 756 to finish gathering her patient’s medical history.
The next morning, on Monday, December 3, 1956, on seeing the results of the biopsy, Haagenson performed an immedi- ate mastectomy.
Theft in the Hospital: The Apgar Quartet
In the spring of 1957, during one of her post-op check-ups, Carleen got up the nerve to ask Apgar about a piece of wood she had seen in the hospital, the curly maple shelf in the
10 Interview, DQW, Notebook 1, 1.17.
Figure 3. A violin octet is a matched consort of eight violins across the range of a piano, each instrument toned and tuned like a violin. The octet instruments, from largest to smallest, are contrabass (large bass), small bass, baritone, tenor, alto violin (“vertical viola”), mezzo (most like the traditional violin), soprano, and treble. Modified from an image provided courtesy of the Hutchins Estate.
PIANO KEYBOARD
ead g
middle C
adgc
cgda
gdae
gdae
cgda gdae cgda
14 | Acoustics Today | Spring 2020
CONTRABASS
SMALL BASS
BARITONE
TENOR
ALTO MEZZO SOPRANO TREBLE