Name Stan Harper | Role Musical Artist | |
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Stan harper and band
Stanley Harper (né Stanley Theodore Wisser; 2 September 1921 – 29 June 2016) was an American virtuoso classical harmonica artist, arranger, and composer. He died June 29, 2016, in a home for the elderly in New Jersey. He raised the popularity of classical harmonica by influencing composers to write for the instrument and by transcribing serious classical works, himself. Through his virtuosity, he widened the recognition of classical harmonica in solo, chamber, and major orchestral settings.
Contents
- Stan harper and band
- Pfos stan harper performance
- Career history
- Publications
- Notable broadcast and live performances
- Filmography
- Harpers surname as a hamonica namesake
- Selected published music
- Family
- References
Pfos stan harper performance
Career history
Harper began his professional harmonica career in 1935, at age 14. He first went professionally by the name Ted Stanley for a short while before choosing the name Stan Harper. He went on to perform and record nationally on radio, television, record, theaters, and film until 2015. In the mid to late 1930s, Harper performed with the The Harmonica Scamps and Three Harpers, both based in New York City. Over the years, he has performed with other renown harmonica players and a range of entertainers and artists, including Eddie Shu (Shulman), Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Hal David, Werner Klemperer, Sam Wanamaker, and Leon Kirchner.
Up until the death of Charley Leighton, Harper was a regular member of a harmonica jam session held every Tuesday at 3 PM at Charley Leighton's apartment in New York City. In addition to Leighton, regulars included Charles Spranklin (Charles Edward Spranklin; born 1932), William Galison, Randy Weinstein, Stanley Silverstone, Gregoire Maret, Phil Caltabelotta, and Rob Paparozzi.
Publications
Stan Harper's Harmonica Repair Manual (For Chromatic and Diatonic) (undated)
Notable broadcast and live performances
Filmography
Harper's surname as a hamonica namesake
Hering Harmonicas, hand maker of diatonic and chromatic harmonicas, located in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil, started producing in about 2009 a popular model bearing Harper's name: The Stan Harper Chromatic 56, a three-octave, 14-hole instrument with 56 brass reeds sealed by a pearwood body bolted to a hardwood comb with chrome-plated cover plates, mouthpiece and slide assembly.
Selected published music
Family
Stanley Theodore Wisser grew up in a Jewish home and was the youngest of six born to a Ukrainian-born American father, Abraham Wisser (né Konvisser) (1879-1955), and Moldovan-born American mother, Rose (née Kramer; 1885-1950) — his father was born in Nizhyn, Ukraine, and his mother in Briceni, Moldova.
Harper had been a widower of Era Maria Tognoli (1919–2011), a 1940s opera soprano who, in 1959, founded the Metro Lyric Opera Company in Allenhurst, New Jersey, and for 52 years (until her death), directed it. Harper and Tongoli were married March 17, 1964, in Asbury Park, New Jersey.