Oscar Saenger

Oscar Saenger

Saenger in 1917

Saenger in 1917

Saenger advertisement in the International Who's Who in Music and Musical Gazetteer (1918)

Oscar Saenger (January 5, 1868 – April 20, 1929) was a singing teacher. With the Victor Talking Machine Company he produced a complete course in vocal training in twenty lessons.[1]

Biography

He was born on January 5, 1868, in Brooklyn, New York City to German-American parents. When he was 18 years old, in 1886, he received a scholarship to the National Conservatory of Music of America. In 1891 he became the baritone soloist for the New American Opera Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in 1892 was a soloist for the Arion Society on their European tour.[1]

He married Charlotte Wells on October 5, 1892, in Brooklyn.[1] They had a daughter, actress and dancer Khyva St. Albans.[2]

From 1925 to 1927 he served as president of the New York Singing Teachers Association.[3]

He died on April 20, 1929, at the Washington Sanitarium in Washington, DC of cancer. He had been ill for a year and a half. Swami Paramahansa Yogananda performed the funeral rites.[1]

Pupils

He had the following pupils:[1]

• Theodore C. Diers (1880–1942)
• Paul Althouse (1889–1954)
• Mabel Garrison (1886–1963)
• Kathleen Howard (1884–1956)
• Orville Harrold (1878–1933)
• Florence Hinkle (1855–1933)
• Bernice de Pasquali (1873–1925)
• Leon Rains (1870–1954)
• Marie Rappold (1874–1957)
• Lila Robeson, Louis Kreidler, Henri Scott, Sidonie Spero, Grace Hoffman, Elsie Raker, Fely Clement, Joseph Regneas, Joseph S. Bernstein, Vera Curtis [Pauline Widenmann Kempf (1860-1953) of Ann Arbor, MI].
• Florence Cole Talbert (1890–1961)

References

1. "Oscar Saenger, Baritone, 61, Dies. Noted for the Last 37 Years as Singing Teacher of This City and Washington. Many Pupils Won Fame. Swami Yogananda of India to Conduct Funeral Services Here on Tuesday Evening". New York Times. April 21, 1929. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
2. Bide Dudley, "About Plays and Players" Evening World (November 12, 1915): 24. via Newspapers.com
3. New York Singing Teachers' Association - It's Story published 1928 by Theodore Presser

External links

• Oscar Saenger recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.