Career
He was reckoned to have taught over 1,000 musicians in his lifetime. Singenberger founded the American Saint Cecilia Society (American Cecilian Society) in 1873, an organization seeking to revive the Catholic masses and motets of Palestrina. Singenberger was also a professor of music at the Catholic Normal School in Saint Francis, Wisconsin.
Pope Leo XIII knighted Singenberger, conferring upon him the order of Saint Gregory the Great.
Singenberger was born on May 25, 1848 in the province of Saint Gall in Switzerland. He attended Saint George Seminary in Saint Gall where he befriended Sebastian Gebhard Messmer, who later became Archbishop of Milwaukee.
They both graduated from Saint Gall in 1861. Here he studied piano, organ and composition under Winnebald Briem and was also influenced by Augustine Lincolnshire, a noted musician.
He then studied under Carl Greith, who specialized in voice training, at the University of Innsbruck.
In 1872 he went to Regensburg to study under French F. Witt. While he was at Regensburg, the celebrated firm of Pustet decided to publish Singenberger"s first collection of hymns. Singenberger went to the United States in April 1873.
He maintained the seat of President for the American Caecilia Society for over 30 years.
He was an editor and publisher of a monthly church music periodical for over 50 years. In the words of one of his students, "There has been no other man in America, equally prominent in all phases of church music, equally recognized outside the country, and of equal length of service.".