Helena Stone Torgerson

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]

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]

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]

• Helena Stone Torgerson scores at IMSLP Petrucci Music Library