Description

CHARLES GILBERT SPROSS (POUGHKEEPSIE, DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA, JANUARY 6, 1874 – POUGHKEEPSIE, DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA, DECEMBER 23, 1961)

 

 

 

He began his musical studies in his hometown with the organist Helen Andrus (1853–1927) and Adolf Kühn, and later studied at the Scharwenka Conservatory in New York with Franz Xaver Scharwenka and Karl Lachmund.

For seven years he served as organist at St. Paul’s Church in Poughkeepsie, and later at several Presbyterian churches in New York and New Jersey. As a pianist, he gained renown primarily as an accompanist. Among the musicians he accompanied were Nellie Melba, Lillian Nordica, Olive Fremstad, and other leading vocalists, as well as his brother Hubert Spross (1878–1959), who was noted for his artistic whistling.

As a soloist, in 1911 he recorded a number of short pieces by Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Moritz Moszkowski, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jean Sibelius, Benjamin Godard, Cécile Chaminade, and others.

He was the composer of numerous songs for voice and orchestra, several cantatas, and a violin sonata. One of Spross’s songs, Will-o’-the-Wisp, proved particularly popular and was recorded over the years by Alma Gluck, Rosa Ponselle, and Marian Anderson.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

Dornroschen – The Sleeping Beauty (Bendel) Aeolian 66138D 1923

Chimes Of St. Cecilia (Spross) Aeolian 6385 1923

Spring Song (Spross) Duo-Art 5866 1922

Barcarolle (Spross) Duo-Art 5896 1915

Etude Melodique, Op. 130, No. 1 in A-Flat Major (Raff) Duo-Art 5806

Monastery Bells Op.54 (Lefébure-Wély) Duo-Art 6424 1921