Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Sophie Lewis HUTCHINSON
Sophie Drinker was born on 24 August 1888 as Sophie Lewis Hutchinson in Haverford in Philadelphia . Her family had a high social status, and dated back to the 17th Century . Sophie Hutchinson was brought up in a genteel family with nannies and domestic staff. As a child she had piano lessons and developed a general interest in music. She attended St. Timothy's School, an exclusive private school in Maryland. Hutchinson was then accepted at Bryn Mawr College but she decided, against attending.
In 1911 she married the lawyer Henry (called Harry) Sandwith Drinker junior and moved with him to Merion, Pennsylvania. Henry Drinker was a successfully lawyer, but spent every minute of his spare time playing music, a passionate hobby that was almost as important to him as his real profession. Apart from active music-making, he devoted himself to the translation of the German text of vocal compositions of great composers into English. Among them are Schubert's songs and Haydn's Creation, and a variety of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, among others, the Christmas Oratorio, the St. John Passion and the St. Matthew Passion.
The couple played piano duets together, all five of their children had daily music lessons, and the whole family sat down together regularly to sing . Henry and Sophie Drinker visited as often as possible musical events such as concerts, opera performances and music festivals. They were for 25 years subscribers to the Philadelphia Orchestra.
The couple neither went to church nor to parties or similar social events. They did not read popular literature, watch films and did not own a radio, even though they could afford to do all this - they did everything in order to have more time for their music.
Sophie Drinker had few male and female friends, but developed many intellectual acquaintances with whom she was in frequent contact by letter.
In 1928 the Drinkers built a new house, which contained a large music room. Here they regularly organized singing evenings, and sometimes they used the premises of the American Musicological Society for their gatherings.
The singing parties developed into a tradition that lasted over 30 years. They included, at first, a small group of about 20 people, which was extended, little by little, until about 150 invited singers gathered regularly. At times, they was accompanied by a string ensemble of about 8-10 players, at other times they contented themselves with a piano accompaniment.
Often, well-known musicians were invited from the Curtis Institute and the Philadelphia Orchestra. They came - often without pay - ready to assist in the training evenings. Over the years, according to estimates by the Drinker family, the events were attended by up to 3000 participants.
Sophie Drinker's attention lighted on the fact that there was very little quality music for female choirs, and saw that there were few women composers . This prompted her to conduct extensive research about women and their place in music history. Her results were presented in the book Music and Women: The Story of Women in Their Relation to Music which appeared in 1948. Despite the fact that this work was not a professional academic paper, it is for music research - especially in the field of gender studies in music - of great importance and highlighted the lack of equality for women in music. It brought this fact into the public consciousness.
During her life she published other writings, including the book Brahms and His Women's Choruses (1952) and articles like What Price Women's Chorus? for Music Journal in 1954. Here she developed criteria for compositions for women's choirs which in her view would utilize the full range of the female voice.
Sophie Drinker was awarded a doctorate from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts in 1949 .
In 1965 Sophie Drinker wrote her memoirs, but they were meant for her family and have remained unpublished.
On 6 September 1967, she died of cancer.
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