Elmer Steffen

Elmer Andrew Steffen (b. Indianapolis, January 11, 1890 – d. Indianapolis, June 3, 1963) – Conductor and composer. While growing up in Indianapolis, Steffen received training in piano and voice and learned composition in New York. During travels to Europe, Steffen became enthralled with choral music traditions, especially the Gregorian chant that he heard in the Vatican. Sent by Bishop Joseph Chartrand of Indianapolis, Steffen studied Gregorian chant at St. Meinrad’s Abbey in Southern Indiana. Starting in around 1911, he founded and directed the Schola Cantorum at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. During WW I, Steffen was instrumental in boosting the morale of U.S. soldiers by leading glee clubs and bands in army camps, which collectively involved over 30,000 young men. From 1924 to 1936, Steffen conducted Indy’s Mendelssohn Choir, which he co-founded. The Mendelssohn Choir morphed into the Symphonic Choir of Indianapolis, which Steffen led—in collaboration with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra—from 1937 to 1948. From 1937 to 1955, he served as the archdiosan director of music, which put him in charge of around 150 churches, chapels, schools, and seminaries. Although he wrote a handful of art songs, he is best known as a composer of sacred choral music, especially Missa Eucharista and Ecce Sacerdos (motet). Very popular among catholic choral groups, his Missa Eucharista was published for unison voices and for four-part mixed chorus. Because of his work in liturgical music, Pope Pius XII made Steffen a Knight of St. Gregory in 1939.