Helena Stone Torgerson
A white woman wearing glasses, her hair in an updo, seated at a harp.
Helena Stone Torgerson, from a 1918 publication
Born
Helena Stone

1878 (1878)
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Died (aged 63)
Rapid City, South Dakota
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Harpist, composer
Years active1896–1941

Helena Stone Torgerson (1878 – September 9, 1941) was an American harpist and composer of harp music, based in Chicago.

Early life

Helena Stone was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the daughter of Frank A. Stone and India E. Colestock Stone. Her father was a manufacturer.[1]

Career

Helena Stone played harp at public events from her teenaged years.[2] In 1899 she replaced Edmund Schuecker as harpist of the Bruno Steindel Concert Company.[3] She was listed among the best-known women harpists in the United States in 1908,[4] and in 1926 Torgerson was described as "Chicago's best woman harpist."[5]

Torgerson performed as a solo harpist and in ensemble,[6] and sometimes played her own compositions.[7] She also gave talks about harp music and the history of the instrument.[8][9] She had a custom-made concert harp, "built on larger scale than is commonly used", for "bigness and resonance of the tone".[10] "Mrs. Torgerson plays the harp in an altogether superior way," commented one writer in 1913, adding that "besides possessing transcendent technic for the instrument, she is a thorough musician and has abundant good taste in interpretation."[11]

Torgerson also taught harp and composed harp music. She studied composition with Adolf Weidig in Chicago.[12] She dedicated her composition "The Squirrel" (1915) to "my little son".[13] Torgerson published Harp Music, a collection of harp pieces organized for teaching purposes.[14]

Personal life

Helena Stone Torgerson married Lloyd R. Torgerson and had a son, Frank Stone Torgerson.[1] She died from a stroke in 1941, aged 63 years, in Rapid City, South Dakota, while touring.[15][16]

References

  1. 1 2 Fisher, Ernest B. (1918). Grand Rapids and # County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First Settlement to the Present Time. R.O. Law Company. p. 361.
  2. ↑ "Concert at St. James". The Inter Ocean. June 12, 1896. p. 4. Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Treat for Musicians". The Topeka State Journal. May 6, 1899. p. 4. Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "The New Vogue of the Harp". The Oregon Daily Journal. May 24, 1908. p. 36. Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Woman Harpist to Give Recital at Club Meeting". Kenosha News. February 2, 1926. p. 4. Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "The Englewood Sunday Evening Club" Music News (April 5, 1918): 17.
  7. ↑ Williams, Mary Carver (March 19, 1920). "Important Event at the Blackstone". Music News. 12: 35.
  8. ↑ "Harpist Gives Unique Program at Woman's Club". Kenosha News. February 4, 1926. p. 4. Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "History of the Harp". Oak Park Oak Leaves. November 22, 1913. p. 30. Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  10. ↑ "Mrs. Torgerson at Grand Rapids". Music News: 19. December 12, 1913.
  11. ↑ "Men's Fall Festival Chorus". Music News: 8. November 28, 1913.
  12. ↑ "Recital by Adolf Weidig's Composition Class". Music News. 13: 16c. April 29, 1921.
  13. ↑ Torgerson, Helena Stone (1915). The squirrel. Harp solo . Harold B. Lee Library. [New York, International Music Pub. Co.]
  14. ↑ Torgerson, Helena Stone (1916). Harp music; a digest classified alphabetically and in grades according to degrees of difficulty. Harold B. Lee Library. Chicago, Lyon & Healy.
  15. ↑ "Chicago Woman Succumbs Here". Rapid City Journal. September 10, 1941. p. 2. Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Mrs. Helena Stone Torgerson". Chicago Tribune. September 12, 1941. p. 18. Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
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