ATHER POPPLEWELL, who served on the faculty of the Sacred Music Symposium several years ago, pointed out that Australian hymnals from the 1950s and 1960s had “a curious admixture of grand and grotesque.” When I served as a member of the team which produced the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal, each of us made a conscious commitment to produce a collection which (as much as possible) included hymns known and loved by Catholics for decades. In other words, we had no interest in creating a book of hymns filled with hymns nobody knew.
Delightful Discovery • I was absolutely delighted to come into contact with a rare ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT BOOK, published by a Capuchin Franciscan named Father Irvin Udulutsch, who taught music at Saint Lawrence Seminary (Mount Calvary, Wisconsin). The book has been out of print for almost seventy years:
* Accompaniment Book • By Father Udulutsch (233 pages)
—That powerful online viewer (with its convenient “thumbnail” option) was created by my colleague, Mr. Frederes, who knows more about computers than anyone else in the world!
Blowing One’s Own Horn! • Father Valentine Young used to say: “If you don’t blow your own horn, nobody else is going to come around and blow it for you.” Why did I claim to be delighted to find Father Udulutsch’s hymnal? I did so because almost every single hymn can be found in the Brébeuf Hymnal. Do you remember how I said our editorial team wanted to stress the CONTINUITY between the Brébeuf and other Catholic hymnals? Looking through these pages almost knocked me off my feet. If you haven’t spent years looking at hymnals, it’s possible you won’t realize the diverse ways hymn melodies can be “disguised.” For example, when you look at page 11 in the book by Father Udulutsch (“At That First Eucharist Before You Died”) you might not realize that same melody is also favored by the Brébeuf Hymnal. Inexplicably, Catholic hymnals for many years disguised (“failed to identify”) melodies and texts: click here to see what I mean.
Three Examples • I could go through the entire hymnal by Father Udulutsch and demonstrate that 90% of the melodies and texts found a home in the Brébeuf Hymnal. That’s very important—as you’re probably sick of hearing me say—because we ardently wanted to avoid producing an “untraditional” book. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to go through the entire thing right now, although I might do that someday, if provoked! Until such time, the first three pages will have to suffice:
Udulutsch Hymn #1 • Hymns written in triple time can be dangerous. They tend to become tedious very quickly. This hymn is an exception. In the the Brébeuf Hymnal, it’s #853, but the Brébeuf Hymnal includes all the verses—whereas Father Udulutsch omits many of them.
Udulutsch Hymn #2 • The first thing I noticed about this hymn is how many verses Father Udulutsch omitted. When this same text and tune was included as #36 in the Brébeuf Hymnal, no verses were omitted. Moreover, Father Udulutsch has put this melody into a low key. Some bass singers would struggle to sing it well. On the other hand, he seems to have done a halfway decent job simplifying the harmonies, thereby making easier for the person on the pipe organ to play all the correct notes.
Udulutsch Hymn #3 • The harmonies by Father Udulutsch appear to be simplified. They’re still quite beautiful (although sometimes all voices move in the same direction at the same time, which isn’t good). Nevertheless the Brébeuf harmonies—with their powerful “circle of fifths” movement—strike me even nicer. Father Udulutsch eliminates tons of verses, whereas the Brébeuf Hymnal leaves the text intact. This melody is “mysterious” and compelling, although certainly somber. In the Brébeuf Hymnal, this hymn tune is called COBLENZ, and can be found on page 229.
Note On Names • In Kansas many years ago, there was a book in the pews called “Our Parish Prays And Sings,” produced in 1966 by the ORDER OF SAINT BENEDICT. I would like to point out that Father Udulutsch’s hymnal is similar but not identical to that book. Sadly, switching book titles is nothing new. For example, in his Comparison of Fifteen Catholic Hymnals, Daniel Craig points out that Omer Westendorf originally called his book “THE PEOPLES HYMNAL” (1955) but in 1964 changed its title to “THE PEOPLES MASS BOOK.” (As someone interested in grammar, Westendorf’s omitting of the apostrophe drives me bonkers.) Dom Suitbertus Birkle published a book called: “A Complete and Practical Method of the Solesmes Plain Chant.” Later, he removed the PREFACE and published the self-same book, this time calling it: “The Vatican Plain Chant; A Practical Manual for Teacher and Student.”
No Accounting for Taste • Everyone has certain words they like or dislike. In my humble opinion, it would be difficult to come up with a worse title than “Our Parish Prays And Sings.” It reminds me of that famous book intended to help children learn to read: See Spot. See Spot Run. Run, Spot! Run! I can’t help thinking: See our parish. See our parish pray. See our parish sing. Our parish prays and sings. I’m also not a fan of trendy titles for Masses: Mass for the City, Mass for the Community, Mass for the People, and so forth. For the record, the very first Mass setting in “Our Parish Prays And Sings” (1966) is called “Mass for World Peace.” The second setting is called “Mass for Social Justice.” I assure you I’m not making this up. Indeed, I can’t think of a better illustration of what Father Popplewell was getting at (“curious admixture of grand and grotesque”) than looking at the musical setting for the OUR FATHER in that same 1966 hymnal:
“Barbaric” Lyrics? • In 1960, someone using the fake name “P.P.” in the Dominicana Journal wrote as follows regarding Father Udulutsch’s hymnal:
One wonders how that person would have viewed today’s hymns, such as these and these.
About the authors:
Rev. Irvin Udulutsch, O.F.M. Cap.
Rev. Irvin Udulutsch, O.F.M. Cap. (1920–2010) was a Capuchin Franciscan friar, priest, composer, and influential figure in American Catholic liturgical reform. Born Wilfred Matthias Udulutsch on February 19, 1920, in Norwalk, Wisconsin, to Michael and Sophia (Flock) Udulutsch, he was the second of ten children in a devout family. He graduated from St. Lawrence Seminary in Mt. Calvary in 1938, made his First Profession of Vows in 1939, his Final Profession in 1942, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 5, 1946. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the Gregorian Institute in Montreal and a Master’s degree in Liturgy from the University of Notre Dame, and went on to serve as pastor at parishes in Milwaukee, Schofield, Spruce, and Klondike, Wisconsin. His passion was music: he composed several Cantatas, taught liturgy and music in seminaries, directed musicals, and was instrumental in helping update and develop forward-looking liturgical practices—preparing a generation of Capuchins, diocesan priests, deacons, and laypeople for the reforms that followed Vatican II. He died on December 11, 2010, in Kaukauna, Wisconsin.
Sister Mary Teresine, O.S.F.
Sister Mary Teresine Haban, O.S.F. (1914–2010) was an American Franciscan sister, organist, composer, and liturgical educator. Born Eva Rosella Haban on January 15, 1914, in Columbus, Ohio, the seventh of twelve children of Stephen and Anna (Kollar) Haban, she began playing the piano at age eight thanks to a father who bought instruments for his children. In 1930 she entered the Sisters of Saint Francis of Mary Immaculate (the Joliet Franciscans), receiving the religious name Teresine when she became a novice in 1931. She earned a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music from the College of St. Francis in Joliet, a Master of Music in Piano from the Chicago Musical College, and a PhD in Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. She served as parish organist at St. Clement (1935), joined the music faculty at the College of St. Francis in 1939, taught as Associate Professor of Music at West Chester State College in Pennsylvania (1974), and returned to Joliet in 1980 to teach and serve as organist at St. Anthony Parish. She was active in liturgical education for over sixty years and served as lecturer, consultant, and editor in the field of Catholic hymnody—a major contributor to the popular hymnal series Our Parish Prays and Sings, published by Liturgical Press before and after the Second Vatican Council. She died on April 9, 2010, in Joliet, Illinois.
Sister Mary Theophane, O.S.F.
Sister Mary Theophane Hytrek, O.S.F. (1915–1992)—known professionally as Theophane Hytrek—was an American organist, composer, educator, and pioneering pastoral musician. A member of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee, she completed an advanced degree in organ from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in 1941, then taught at Alverno College while commuting weekly for four years to DePaul University in Chicago to study composition with Samuel Lieberson; she completed the FAGO examination in 1945 and earned a master’s degree in composition from DePaul in 1948, later receiving her doctorate in composition from the University of Rochester and serving as a fellow of the American Guild of Organists. She chaired the Alverno College music department from 1956 to 1968 and remained as a full professor until 1984, becoming professor emerita in 1989. Her published works include Masses, motets, psalms, hymns, and organ compositions; her Pilgrim Mass was commissioned for the 41st International Eucharistic Congress in 1976, and she played a key role in founding the National Association of Pastoral Musicians that same year, serving on its first board of directors. She died on August 13, 1992, shortly after teaching her regular class at the NPM School of Organists at Alverno College.
Rev. Jerome Coller, O.S.B.
Rev. Jerome Coller, O.S.B. (born Thomas Coller; died 2019) was a Benedictine monk, priest, concert pianist, and composer of Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. After studies that earned him bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Minnesota, Thomas took the name Jerome and made his first vows as a monk of St. John’s Abbey on July 11, 1955, was ordained to the priesthood on June 6, 1959, and was appointed abbey organist and choir director while teaching theology and Gregorian chant at St. John’s University until 1963. That year he was sent to the Benedictine monastery of San Antonio Abad in Humacao, Puerto Rico, to teach religion and music; in 1965 he was assigned to Moorhead, Minnesota, as Newman Center chaplain for Moorhead State University and assistant pastor at St. Joseph’s Church; and beginning in 1968 he undertook graduate studies at Cornell University, earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition in 1971. He made his debut as a pianist at Saint John’s by performing Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto in March 1963, also appearing as a soloist with the University of Minnesota Symphony and giving recitals over KUOM radio. A consummate concert pianist and composer, his creative talents culminated in liturgical pieces for the Saint John’s Abbey community, ranging from the simple and uplifting to the rhythmically and harmonically complex; in 1988 he presented an “Experimental Computer Music Office,” a first in the abbey’s musical history, and his theatrical flair was as evident in his homilies as in his music. He died on June 22, 2019, at the retirement center at Saint John’s Abbey.
