Stan Harper

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The basics

Quick facts

Intro

Harmonica player

Gender:

Male

Is:

Musician

Work field:

Music

Birth:

2 September 1921(Brooklyn)

Death:

29 June 2016

The details

Biography

Introduction

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.

Career history

Harper began his professional harmonica career in 1935, at age 14. 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.

Selected discography

LPs and CDs

The Artistry of Stanley Harper (released after 1966)
Side A:
1. "Serenata"
2. "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby"
3. Medley
  1. "Tenderly"
  2. "Misty"
4. "Southern Medley"
5. "Charade"
6. "That Haunting Theme"
7. "I Don't Want to Walk Without You"
  
  Harper plays all the parts
8. Medley from Fiddler on the Roof
  1. "Fiddler on the Roof"
  2. "If I Were a Rich Man"
  3. "Sunrise, Sunset"
  4. "L'Chaim"
Side B:
1. Duke Ellington Medley
  1. "Sophisticated Lady"
  2. "Caravan"
  3. "Mood Indigo"
  4. "Satin Doll"
2. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"
3. "Brahm's Lullaby"
  
  Harper plays a duet with a tiny music box
4. "Tiger Rag"
5. "Tosselli's Serenade"
  
  Enrico Toselli
  
  (solo on a 1 inch harmonica)
6. "Peg O' My Heart"
7. "Poet and Peasant Overture," Von Suppé
Stan Harper Plays Bach and Vivaldi

Musical Heritage Society MHS 4947T (1984)

OCLC 17229517, 11583632; LCCN 84-743123

Recorded at JAC Studios, New York City
1. "Suite no. 2 in B minor for flute, strings, and basso continuo"
  
  S. 1067," Bach
  
  Transcribed for flute and piano by Lambros D. Callimahos
2. "Violin concerto in A minor"
  
  S. 1041, Bach
  
  Arrangement and fingering by Eduard Herrmann (1850–1937)
3. "Flute concerto in D major, op. 10, No. 3: Il cardellino"
  
  Vivaldi
  
  Edited by Waldersee and Zanke
Stan Harper Plays Mozart and Farnon
1. Clarinet Concerto in A
  
  K622, Mozart (with symphony orchestra)
2. "Prelude and Dance for Harmonica"
  
  Robert Farnon
Stan Harper Plays Fritz Kreisler

EuClEd, European Classic Editions EC 06 (2009)

Don Smith, piano
Stan Harper Plays the Great Novelettes

EuClEd, European Classic Editions EC 07 (2009)

Don Smith, piano

Singles

Coral 62388 (45 rpm) (1963)

Harmonica solo with chorus and orchestra

Directed by Henry Jerome

Featuring Stan Harper

Side 1 (matrix – 114130): "Charade"

Henry Mancini (music)

Johnny Mercer (words)

Side 2 (matrix – 114131): "I Don't Want to Walk Without You"

Jule Styne (music)

Frank Loesser (words)
Decca 31597 (45 rpm) (1963)

Harmonica solo with chorus and orchestra

Henry Jerome & His Chorus & Orchestra

Featuring Stan Harper

Side A (matrix – 113858): "That Haunting Theme"

Mark Cooper (aka Milton Grant) (w&m)

Lee Reyab (aka Eleanor Jerome) (w&m)

Publications

Stan Harper's Harmonica Repair Manual (For Chromatic and Diatonic) (undated)

Notable broadcast and live performances

Smithsonian Institute of Arts, in Washington, D.C., solo appearance, 1991, demonstrating his skills using 5 to 6 different sized harmonicas
Television — Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, solo appearance, May 7, 1951
Television — Today, hosted by Hugh Downs, solo appearance, November 24, 1963
Carnegie Recital Hall, harmonica & piano, Helen Wheaton Benham (born 1941) (piano), Saturday, November 6, 1980, 2:30

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

Composed the musical score for "And Now Miguel" (1966).

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.

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