A letter from Saunders of January 26,1959 offers
Hutchins congratulations for her contact with Rembert Wurlitzer
(1904-1963) and Fernando Sacconi (1895-1973), two important individuals
in Hutchins's continuing training as a luthier.[FN
28] Sacconi, a fine Italian maker and instrument restorer
and a leading authority on the work of Antonio Stradivari, joined
the Wurlitzer firm in 1950. Hutchins met Wurlitzer in the mid-1950s
after her work with Berger. She remembers how Wurlitzer rushed
through her workshop, looking at all of her instruments. As may
be seen in Saunders's letter, by 1959 Wurlitzer had invited Hutchins
to meet Sacconi. She continued to work with the Italian maker
until Wurlitzer's death in 1963. in a letter of recommendation
for Hutchins's first Guggenheim Fellowship in 1959 (she won another
in 1961), Wurlitzer spoke of his regard for the work of Hutchins
and Hopping in plate tuning:[FN
29]
We have known Mrs. Hutchins for some
years and have been very much interested in the research
she has done and we are of the opinion that she fully deserves
further encouragement...
As far as I know, the ideas of Mrs. Hutchins are unique
and I believe fully worthwhile exploring. Basically they
take the form of measuring the pitch response of the upper
and lower plates of an instrument at various points and
of then correlating these figures with the various variations
in constructions of the instrument...
Such measurement may quite likely lead to a scientific approach
to the making of superior bowed instruments...
We are quite familiar with Mrs. Hutchin's (sic) work as
an instrument maker and we believe that she is quite capable
of undertaking this work. |
Hutchins work with Sacconi took place periodically at Wurlitzer's
on 42nd Street. They met in an upstairs room apart from the main
workshop, meaning that luthiers training there were unaware of Hutchins's
study with Sacconi. Hutchins has remembered her work with him in
print:[FN 30]
Sacconi wanted me to follow
as closely as possible the methods he had evolved from the
work of Stradivari--the molds, the designs, the tools and
the ways of using them... |
She has recalled his advice to find Italian Lombardy
poplar for purfling in Chianti wine crates, and his surprise at
her finding willow for blocks in polo balls. Sacconi lent Hutchins
his tools, patterns, and cutters, and made her drawings of the
famed MacDonald Stradivarius viola. One of the biggest boons to
her research made possible by Wurlitzer and Sacconi was the opportunity
to test the plates of the Wirth Stradivarius violin, apart for
repairs in about 1962. Hutchins picked up the plates, "more
valuable in weight than platinum,"[FN
31] at the 42nd Street shop and took them back to Montclair
for testing, learning much about the plates of a fine instrument
in the process. Hutchins received the following letter from Lee
(Mrs. Rembert) Wurlitzer in 1989, recalling her work with Wurlitzer
and Sacconi:[FN
32]
I just returned from The Metropolitan
Museum and I was so pleased to see your instruments on display
there. That is quite an honor.
Rembert and Mr. Sacconi would be very proud, they were both
so interested in your work. Mr. Sacconi would be especially
pleased since he worked with you so often. I remember when
Rembert loaned you a Strad that was open so you could study
it and take measurements. I wish you all the luck and hope
to see you one day. Have a good summer. |
Sincerely, Lee Wurlitzer