HYTREK, Theophane

Theophane Hytrek (born February 28 , 1915 in Stuart , Nebraska ; died August 13 , 1992 ) was an American composer, church musician, and music educator.

Hytrek entered the School Sisters of St. Francis (SSSF) in 1930. She began her musical studies at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music , where she received a degree in organ performance in 1941. She then began teaching at Alverno College and simultaneously studied composition at DePaul University in Chicago with Samuel Lieberson . From 1945 to 1948, she studied at DePaul University (graduating with a master's degree), and in the summer of 1946, she also took lessons with Marcel Dupre at the University of Chicago . Beginning in 1953, she was a student of Bernard Rogers at the Eastman School of Music ; in 1957, she received her doctorate in composition.

From 1956 to 1968, Hytrek headed the music department at Alverno College, where she then held a professorship until 1984. She was awarded the title of Professor Emerita in 1987. She was instrumental in the founding of the National Catholic Music Educators Association (NCMEA, 1942), the Church Music Association of America (1966), and the Composers Forum for Catholic Worship (1970). She was also a co-founder of the Symposium for Church Composers and Liturgists (1981) and a member of the American Guild of Organists for more than fifty years .

Besides masses, motets, and liturgical works, Hytrek composed, among other pieces, Psalm 83 (84) , Psalms , a Festival Fanfare , and Postlude-Partita on the Old One-Hundredth . For her Prelude and Allegro for Oboe and Piano in the style of Norman Dello Joio, she received First Prize from the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors in 1960. Performances of her works took place at venues including the First Annual Congress of Women Composers in New York City in 1981 and the American Composers Festival of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1984. St. Joseph College in Resselaer, Indiana, and Marquette University awarded her honorary doctorates (1978 and 1983, respectively).