Carl Frederick Schalk
1929 - 2021
Lutheran
Biography
Carl Frederick Schalk (1929–2021) was an American Lutheran composer, church musician, teacher, editor, author, and hymnologist. Raised in Des Plaines, Illinois, he graduated from Concordia Teachers College in River Forest in 1952. He then served at Zion Lutheran Church and School in Wausau, Wisconsin, directing musical ensembles and teaching before completing a master's degree in music at the Eastman School of Music in 1958. He later earned a Master of Arts in Religion from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.
Schalk returned to Concordia in River Forest, now Concordia University Chicago, in 1965 and taught church music there until 1994. He helped establish the university's Master of Church Music program and its annual church-music lectures, and he edited the journal Church Music from 1966 to 1980. He contributed to Worship Supplement in 1969 and served in the broader inter-Lutheran work that led to Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978. His teaching, writing, and conference leadership made him an influential interpreter of Lutheran theology and practice of church music.
As a composer, Schalk wrote more than one hundred hymn tunes as well as choral, organ, and liturgical music. His widely used tunes include NOW, ROEDER, THINE, FORTUNATUS NEW, and MANGER SONG, and he collaborated frequently with hymn poets such as Jaroslav Vajda and Herbert Brokering. His books include A Handbook of Church Music, Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise, and God's Song in a New Land. Schalk died on January 24, 2021. His legacy joins composition, scholarship, pedagogy, and a sustained commitment to congregational song.
Schalk returned to Concordia in River Forest, now Concordia University Chicago, in 1965 and taught church music there until 1994. He helped establish the university's Master of Church Music program and its annual church-music lectures, and he edited the journal Church Music from 1966 to 1980. He contributed to Worship Supplement in 1969 and served in the broader inter-Lutheran work that led to Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978. His teaching, writing, and conference leadership made him an influential interpreter of Lutheran theology and practice of church music.
As a composer, Schalk wrote more than one hundred hymn tunes as well as choral, organ, and liturgical music. His widely used tunes include NOW, ROEDER, THINE, FORTUNATUS NEW, and MANGER SONG, and he collaborated frequently with hymn poets such as Jaroslav Vajda and Herbert Brokering. His books include A Handbook of Church Music, Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise, and God's Song in a New Land. Schalk died on January 24, 2021. His legacy joins composition, scholarship, pedagogy, and a sustained commitment to congregational song.
Hymns by Carl Frederick Schalk
Now the Silence
Role: Composer