Erna Tauro

Erna Tauro ( Pergament; 16 August 1916 4 June 1993), was a Finland-Swedish pianist and composer, as well as a theatre musician and teacher. She is remembered for her collaboration with Tove Jansson. Biography Erna Pergament was born in 1916, in Viipuri. She was the daughter of Isak Pergament and Rifka (née Rosenthal), and niece of composers Moses Pergament and Simon Parmet. The family moved to Berlin in 1921 and later to Helsinki. Tauro studied piano and music theory in Berlin, and according to some sources, also studied music at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. During World War II, Tauro worked as a nurse and also an accompanist. She married Risto Ilmari Tauro in 1944, and they had one daughter born in 1945. They divorced in 1950. From 1955 to 1969 she was principal accompanist at the Little Theater in Helsinki and composed music for a number of plays and musicals. Alongside her employment at the Little Theater, Tauro also worked as a pianist at Stockmann’s lunch restaurant, among other places. Her composition “Höstvisa” (“Autumn Song”) with lyrics by Tove Jansson won third prize in the 1965 Finnish Broadcasting Song Contest. The same year, she won second place with the song “Den