Urner, Catherine, 1891-1942

Catherine Murphy Urner, composer, singer, choir director, and teacher; b. Mitchell, Ind., Mar. 23, 1891; d. San Diego, Apr. 30, 1942; wife of Charles Shatto, with whom she collaborated on musical projects. Charles Kœchlin, French composer, musicologist, and teacher of composition and orchestration, was her mentor.

Biographical Sketch

Catherine Murphy Urner was born in Mitchell, Indiana on the 23rd day of March, 1891. Her undergraduate musical training, with concentrations in piano, voice and composition, was accomplished at Goucher College (Baltimore, Maryland), the famed Peabody Conservatory and Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) from which she was graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912.

In 1914, she traveled West and enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley campus, to do post-graduate work in music at the College of Letters and Science, where, by June 1916, she had completed four semesters of study. Before her withdrawal from the University on September 26, 1916, she became involved in composing the music for the Spring 1916 production of the University women--The Partheneia--a masque presented in the Faculty Glade on campus. This work, based on a series of scenes by classmate Maude Meagher, was entitled Aranyani of the Jasmine Vine. Miss Urner's contribution was hailed by the following interesting excerpt from a review of the entire production found in the 1917 Blue and Gold (the UCB year book): "The music, composed by Catherine Urner '15 and directed by Dorothy Pillsbury '16, was of unusual beauty." As an outcome of her part in this production, she won the esteemed George Ladd Prix de Paris for the years 1920-1921, Miss Urner being the first person to be honored with this award.

It was during the first of her three sojourns in France that she coached voice with Andrée Otemar and commenced her decade-long studies in advanced composition and orchestration with the renowned Charles Koechlin.

On her return to the United States in 1921, she became Director of Vocal Music at Mills College, a position she held until 1924.

From this time on, Catharine Urner was very active as a composer and concert singer, chiefly in the United States, France and Italy. In the next few years, important premières of her music took place under the auspices of such eminent organizations as the Société Musicale Indépendante and the Salle Pleyel in Paris. In her concertizing, she became recognized as an accomplished singer of ancient and classic songs, French Impressionist chansons and American Indian tribal melodies, many of these last-named having been harmonized and arranged for voice and piano by her close associate, Mme. Herscher-Clément.

American Indian lore, one of Catharine Urner's main interests, is commented upon in this excerpt from a program announcement in a San Diego newspaper of the Thirties: "A group of the ceremonial songs of five American tribes will be explained and sung by Miss Urner, in appropriate costume. Miss Urner has done extensive research on the folklore of the American Indian, and in collaboration with the French composer, Mme. Herscher-Clément, gave joint recitals with Chief Os-Ko-Mon, of the Yakima tribe, while in Paris." Section IV of the program printed in the same announcement elucidates further: "Ceremonial songs of the Navajo, Sioux, South Dakota, Iroqois (sic) and Cheyenne Indians, with comments by Miss Urner." An announcement of a Thanksgiving Day concert at Santa Barbara's famed El Encanto Hotel gives additional detail regarding the scope of Miss Urner's deep involvement with this traditional music: "In the Thanksgiving program Miss Urner will sing in native costume accompanied by the Indian drum and will present authentic Indian songs from American tribes." Needless to say, one senses a strong influence of this stark, poetical music in Miss Urner's compositions.

Shortly before her final return to the United States, where she taught and arranged lecture tours for Charles Koechlin at leading universities, more and more plaudits for her recitals were in evidence, Sempol previewing, for example, in L'Éclaireur de Nice et du Sud-Est of Tuesday, January 19, 1932 as follows: "En ce qui concerne plus spécialement son interprétation vocale, on aura la joie de constater que ses dons musicaux et sa compréhension des oeuvres sont doublés d'une technique de chant tout à fait supérieure, d'une voix ample, colorée, au timbre pur et velouté."

In 1938, Catherine Urner married the well-known composer, pianist and organist, Charles Rollin Shatto, in a ceremony at picturesque Bird Rock, La Jolla, California. The two musicians collaborated on many projects, and until Miss Urner's untimely passing on the 30th day of April, 1942 in San Diego, California, she devoted herself to prolific composition, singing, teaching and choir.