Tollefsen Trio- Old Black Joe (1809)

Tollefsen Trio

"Old Black Joe"

Stephen Foster is the composer

Columbia A1809

The Tollefsen Trio consisted of Carl H. Tollefsen (violin), Augusta Tollefsen (piano), and Paul Kefer (cello).

The ensemble made recordings for Edison, Victor, and Columbia

The group was best known for concert performances and recitals.

The trio was first formed in 1904 and continued into the 1940s.

The repertory was primarily classical chamber music with occasional folk and spirituals.

Carl H. Tollefsen was the violinist. He was born in Kingston upon Hull in England, but his parents were Danish.

He lived in the US since he was 6 years, where he worked all his life with his wife, the pianist Augusta Schnabel-Tollefsen.

He died in New York in 1963.

Gone am the days
when my heart was
young and gay.

Gone am the friends
from the cotton
fields away.

Gone from this
earth to a better
land I know. I hear
their gentle voices
calling Old Black Joe.

Tollefsen Trio "Old Black Joe" classic song by composer Stephen Foster (Gone am the days)