Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (Hymn Tune Transcriptions, No. 1)

Peter Christian Lutkin (March 27, 1858 – December 27, 1931) was an American organist, choral conductor, and composer. He was born in Thompsonville, Wisconsin on March 27, 1858. His parents, emigrated to the U.S. from Denmark in 1844. He attended Chicago public schools and was a chorister and organist at St. Peter and St. Paul's Episcopal Church. At age thirteen he began formal music training, studying organ with Clarence Eddy, piano with Regina Watson, and theory with Frederick Grant Gleason.

At age twenty-one, he became a piano instructor in the Conservatory of Music at Northwestern University. In 1881 he traveled to Berlin to study with Oscar Ralf and Woldemar Bargiel. After a year he was admitted to the Royal School of Art in Berlin. He returned to Chicago to serve as organist and choirmaster, first at St. Clement's Protestant Episcopal Church and later at St. James Episcopal Church. He also served a three-year appointment on the faculty of the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He was a widely respected organist and helped found the American Guild of Organists in 1896. In 1891, he returned to Northwestern University, where he contributed to significant improvements

As a composer, Lutkin specialized in writing unaccompanied choral music, primarily for his own choir. He wrote at least thirty hymn tunes, numerous songs for children, and sixty-five choral anthems, some of which remain in print today.

I confess that I've known "of him" for years, but never knew a thing "about" him.

"Hymn Tune Transcriptions" was published by the H. W. Gray Co. in 1908, and consists of nine "arrangements" of well-known hymns.

The first, for Advent, is based upon "Veni, Veni, Emmanuel" and is dedicated: "To my pupil, Louis Norton Dodge."

This setting is effective, and his a rather unique second verse, which is quietly rhapsodic, and quite strikingly different than other pieces based upon the famous tune.

The score and a photo of Peter Christian Lutkin are attached.