|
The Catgut Acoustical Society Library |
| File #: | F6120 |
| Name: | Fletcher, Donald Atkinson |
| Dates: | d. 1977 |
| See also: | F6160 - Fletcher, William Harvey (father); S2650 - Savart, Felix |
| General Information: |
| A first cousin of CMH who, after spending eight years studying organ and architecture at the Beaux |
| Arts in Paris, was able to read French and type the English translation directly. He became very much |
| interested in the new instruments of the Violin Octet and was most helpful in the early stages of their |
| development, suggesting design concepts and ways to make them into a cohesive family of instruments. |
| When the writings of Savart in l'Institut were finally found in the library of the Philadelphia Academy of |
| Sciences (The pages were torn out of the copy in Widner, the volume missing at the Library of Congress |
| and the Smithsonian) Donald offered to translate the whole series of articles concerning Savart's |
| research on the violin. This has been most helpful over the years as many of Savart's ideas and |
| experiments are basic to current research. He also translated the early work of Maupertuis which is |
| based on the concept that the different length reeds of the spruce violin top reinforce the various |
| frequencies, a discarded concept. Much of the information in the file is related to family matters. |
| File Contents: |
| F6120 | -- | 101 |
| Correspondence: (1959-1991) involving D A Fletcher, Mary Fletcher, REF, Flora Harvey, Betty |
| Montleon, Dorothy Bergquist, and CMH. Includes Newsletters from Sweetbrook Nursing Home in |
| Williamstown MA where Don & Mary lived. |
| Key Words: |
| F6120 | -- | 102 |
| Miscellaneous: hand-drawn map, brief genealogical note, report (evidently written by school student, |
| probably a neighbor of D A Fletcher) on the New Violin Family, type-written description of the |
| funeral service for D A Fletcher, a negative and 2 obits; treatise on the Piano and the Pianist by D A |
| Fletcher retyped by his niece, Dorothy Bergquist, which concludes with a letter to her daughter |
| containing family history; treatise on instrumentation of Hector Berlioz. |
| Key Words: | Piano & pianists | Berlioz instrumentation |
| F6120 | -- | 103 |
| Translations by D A Fletcher: the 1724 Memoire on stringed instruments by Maupertuis [740 KB, PDF]; the 1819 |
| Memoire (minus the Rapport) by Savart; and the 1840 l'Institut articles (the sections on stringed |
| instruments) by Savart as transcribed by A Masson. |
| Key Words: | Savart |