AHJ, Vol. 4 No. 3, Spring 1974

Salvatore Mario de Stefano
by Lucile High Jennings
Salvatore Mario de Stefano lives just around the
corner from Carnegie Hall, in one of those impressive
stone structures, ornately carved over two facades,
which proclaim their unwavering individuality in the
constantly-changing architectural maze of New York
City.
Maestro de Stefano greeted me cordially at the door
of his apartment and invited me into a parlor-studio
furnished with two harps, a grand piano, and the furnishings
and pictures and other memorabilia that speak
of a long and fascinating life in the concert world.
Born on the island of Sardinia, at Cagliari, Salvatore
Mario de Stefano was a harp pupil of Caramiello at the
Royal Conservatorio in Naples. His teacher, who had
been a colleague of Hasselmans in Paris, led a double
career, as he was also Consul to the small monarchy of
Montenegro, whose young princess had become Victor
Emmanuel's wife and therefore Queen of Italy. The
young de Stefano served his teacher as secretary in this
diplomatic function, and thus participated in the glittering
life of an international circle. While still a young
man, he emigrated to the United States and began a
career as soloist and orchestral harpist.
He showed me a clipping from a 1921 issue of the
New York Times, which featured a concert of 60 harps
playing in Carnegie Hall, with Mario de Stefano and
Carlos Salzedo as soloists. As he reminisced about the
high points of his career, I heard of tours all over the
U.S., several seasons of playing as soloist with the Boston
Pops, many experiences with the Bolshoi Ballet,
Sadlers Wells Ballet, and Leningrad Ballet-when he
was famous for his cadenzas in "Nutcracker Suite,"
"Swan Lake," and "Sleeping Beauty," and for his orchestral
sound in "Daphnis and Chloe"-to mention
only a few. He is well-known to listeners to New York
stations WOR and WQXR; at one point he played a regular
weekly series of harp music on Sunday afternoons
over a period of two years. "I played everythingclassical,
romantic, modern-soup to nuts," he said
SPRING/1974
this included concertos or chamber works by Zabel,
Tournier, Oberthur, Mozart, Ravel, and Debussy.
His musical career has not been limited to playing
the harp, but has also included conducting and composition.
As a composer, de Stefano has added to the repertoire
the delightful "Variations on a Theme of
Corelli," which he played for me, to indicate tempi and
styles for the different variations. It is now published
by Lyra House, as is his transcription of a posthumous
"Nocturne" of Chopin-a beautiful work with a singing
melody. As he played that, I was much impressed
with the singing legato line he achieved, and awed by
his effortless one-hand trill.
What method does he use? This is a question he
would like to talk about. "Too many people are fanatics
about 'method,' " he said. "There are many methods
and all of them have good points. There are really three
things to remember if you want to play the harp well:
first, relaxation; second, sonority; and third, phrasing."
He added that prehaps relaxation is the most important
of all, since it affects the other two.
Expressing himself on this subject, Mr. de Stefano
mused about the origins of all contemporary harpists
and harp methods. "Really, almost all of them go back
to Hasselmans, if you trace their inheritance," he
pointed out. "Hasselmans was the teacher of
Salzedo, Ada Sassoli, Renie (who taught Grandjany),
Tournier (who taught Zabaleta), and many others."
Mr. de Stefano regrets very much the current contempt
for Hasselmans' music, among harpists. He terms
him the "poet of the harp" and advises harpists to play
Hasselmans compositions in order to work on their tone
and their phrasing.
Asked about the happiest memories of his harp
career, Mr. de Stefano named the three occasions when
he was asked to play at the White House--once for
Prec;ident Coolidge and twice for President Roosevelt.
(Eleanor Roosevelt was entranced with a little "Music
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