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90-535: The choir was founded on August 22, 1847, shortly after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley . Prospective singers must be LDS Church members who are eligible for a temple recommend , be between 25 and 55 years of age at the start of choir service, and live within 100 miles (160 km) of Temple Square . The Tabernacle Choir is one of the most famous choirs in the world. It first performed for

180-829: A Jesuit missionary familiar with the Great Basin. The wary Young insisted the Mormons should settle in a location no other colonizers wanted, and felt the Salt Lake Valley met that requirement, but would provide the Saints with many advantages as well. The valley was then under the administration of Mexico , which had banned immigration from the United States with the Law of April 6, 1830 . The Mormon settlers entered Mexico without government authorization, and despite

270-497: A U.S. president in 1911, and has performed at the inaugurations of presidents Lyndon B. Johnson (1965), Richard Nixon (1969), Ronald Reagan (1981), George H. W. Bush (1989), George W. Bush (2001), and Donald Trump (2017). The Tabernacle was completed in October 1867 and the choir held its first concert there on July 4, 1873. The choir started out fairly small and rather undisciplined. On April 6, 1869, George Careless

360-457: A large number of students as residents in his household to prevent the image of impropriety with Daniels, since if he had lived alone with her without other witnesses around, it would have opened him up to accusations of a scandalous relationship. They state that Stephens "is known only as a strictly moral Christian gentleman." Mitton and James also point out that the death of Stephens's fiancee led him to remember her through his music, and that this

450-469: A prayer dedicating the land to the Lord. Ground was broken, irrigation ditches were dug, and the first fields of potatoes and turnips were planted. On July 24, Young first saw the valley from a "sick" wagon driven by his friend, Wilford Woodruff . According to Woodruff, Young expressed his satisfaction in the appearance of the valley and declared "This is the right place, drive on." Today a monument stands in

540-520: A principal owner of the ship Brooklyn . On February 4, 1846 (the same day the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo began), the ship Brooklyn cleared New York harbor and began its nearly 6-month voyage to the Pacific coast of the then-Mexican Territory of California . The ship weighed 445 short tons (404 t) and measured 125 ft x 28 ft × 14 ft (8.5 m × 4.3 m) x 4.3 m) and

630-431: A shout of joy, which almost involuntarily escaped from our lips the moment this grand and lovely scenery was within our view. The two scouts undertook a twelve-mile (19 km) exploratory circuit into the valley before returning to the larger party. The next day, larger segments of the valley were explored, streams and hot springs investigated and the first camp established in the Salt Lake Valley. On July 23, Pratt offered

720-480: Is carried by the Rocky Mountain wood tick ). Young himself became ill soon after meeting Goodyear. The small sick detachment lagged behind the larger group, and a scouting division was created to move ahead on the designated route. In July 1847, the first company reached the Salt Lake Valley, with scouts Erastus Snow and Orson Pratt entering the valley on July 21. Pratt wrote: ...we could not refrain from

810-429: Is the current director, with associate director Ryan Murphy . Richard Elliott , Andrew Unsworth , Linda Margetts, Brian Mathias, and Joseph Peeples are the current organists. Since its inception in 1929, the "spoken word" segment of the program has been voiced by four separate individuals. The original writer, producer, and announcer of the spoken portion of the broadcast was Edward (Ted) Kimball , who would stand at

900-581: Is the largest act to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 —their version of " The Battle Hymn of the Republic " reached No. 13 in 1959. 1944 1961 1981 1988 2003 2004 2006 2010 Since its first recording in 1910, the choir has earned five gold albums (two in 1963: The Lord's Prayer and Handel's Messiah ; one in 1979: The Joy of Christmas ; and two in 1985: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sings Christmas Carols and Joy to

990-516: Is today the U.S. state of Utah . At the time of the planning of the exodus in 1846, the territory comprising present-day Utah was part of the Republic of Mexico , with which the U.S. soon went to war over a border dispute left unresolved after the annexation of Texas . The Salt Lake Valley became American territory as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which ended the war. The journey

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1080-462: The Nauvoo Neighbor printed an extensive list of suggested provisions for each family wagon. The provisions included two to three yoke of oxen, two milk cows, other livestock, arms and ammunition, 15 lb of iron, pulleys and ropes, fishing gear, farming and mechanical equipment, cooking equipment and at least 1000 pounds of flour plus assorted other foodstuffs. Some pioneers overestimated

1170-723: The Boston Pops Orchestra , and the Orchestra at Temple Square . The choir's own record label was formed in 2003. Mormon pioneers The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter-day Saints , who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what

1260-614: The LDS Church hymnal are: Included among Stephens's works is " Utah, We Love Thee " (also sometimes referred to as "Land of the Mountains High"), which became the official state song of Utah in 1937. In 2003, it was designated the official state hymn, and a new state song was named. Under Evan Stephens's direction the size of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir increased from 125 members to over 300. Stephens

1350-536: The Mormon Battalion were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the discharged men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt , senior Mormon officer of

1440-548: The New York Messenger ), was directed by church elders to charter a ship that would carry its passengers away from the eastern United States to California, which was then part of Mexico. Over the course of two months, Brannan managed to recruit 70 men, 68 women, and 100 children—238 persons total. Brannan negotiated a fare of $ 75 for adults and half-fare for children with the Captain Abel W. Richardson, master and

1530-629: The State of Utah , known as Pioneer Day . Salt Lake City also has the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument , where Young, Eliza R. Snow , and other Mormon pioneers are buried and where a memorial exists dedicated to all who crossed the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. Additionally, the "Pioneer" (characterized as " Pioneer Pete ") is Lehi High School 's mascot. In some places, Mormons hold an event called "Pioneer Trek" for people who are ages fourteen to eighteen. In participating in

1620-494: The far west continued sporadically until the 20th century. Since its founding in 1830, members of the LDS Church frequently had conflicts and difficult relations with non-members, due to both their unorthodox religious beliefs and the conduct of the church leaders and members. These and other reasons caused the body of the church to move from one place to another—to Ohio , Missouri , and then to Illinois , where they built

1710-557: The 1990s, Stephens stated that Daniels would have made a good wife, but he would only marry a member of the LDS Church. After Stephens died, Daniels did join the LDS Church and she was sealed to him by proxy on 5 November 1931 in the Salt Lake Temple , with the ordinance having been approved by LDS Church president Heber J. Grant . Stephens studied at the University of Deseret . From 1885 to 1900, Stephens directed

1800-652: The Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron Country, near present-day Cedar City . These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah , Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California , as well as communities in southern Arizona. By 1885, Mormon communities were being established in northern Mexico . The Mormon pioneers are celebrated annually on July 24 in

1890-633: The British mission. John Taylor , Parley P. Pratt and Orson Hyde brought money contributed by the English Saints, a map based on John C. Fremont 's recent western expedition, and instruments for calculating latitude, elevation, temperature and barometric pressure. Chosen members of the vanguard group were gathered together, final supplies were packed, and the group was organized into military companies. The group consisted of 143 men, including three enslaved African-American men, and eight members of

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1980-580: The Christmas concerts, there are only two shows: one on Friday and the other on the following Saturday. The tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. A guest artist is typically invited every year. Past guest artists have included: The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has about fifteen staff members including a president, directors, organists, a Music and the Spoken Word announcer, and two business-related staff members. Mack Wilberg

2070-541: The Conference Center in Salt Lake City during the month of December. Typically, the concert consists of three performances: a Thursday dress rehearsal, followed by Friday and Saturday concerts. The combined audience for each concert series is approximately 63,000. Tickets to the concert are free, and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. A live album (CD/DVD) is typically released, along with

2160-807: The LDS Church hierarchy. Elsewhere, Quinn has theorised that the unmarried Stephens had intimate relationships and shared the same bed with a series of male domestic partners and travelling companions. Quinn claims that some of these relationships were described under a pseudonym in The Children's Friend , a church magazine for children. However, Quinn has admitted that it is possible Stephens never engaged in homosexual conduct. Several other Mormon writers, including George L. Mitton and Rhett S. James , have called Quinn's research on Stephens into question. They argue that Quinn has engaged in an opportunistic distortion of LDS Church history; they deny any acceptance from previous leaders of homosexual behaviour; and state

2250-592: The Latter-day Saint temple in Nauvoo . According to church belief, God inspired Brigham Young (Joseph Smith's successor as church president ) to call for the Saints (as church members call themselves) to organize and head West, beyond the western frontier of the United States. During the winter of 1846–1847, Latter-day Saint leaders in Winter Quarters and Iowa laid plans for the migration of

2340-400: The Mormon trek west. Clayton made his notes and measurements available to other emigrants in his The Latter-Day Saints' Emigrants' Guide . Women of the company also performed vital tasks along the way. While much time was spent on traditional activities such as cooking, sewing, and tending children, several women served as scribes and diary keepers. Harriet Page Young, wife of Lorenzo Young,

2430-528: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, three women, and two children. The train contained 73 wagons, one cannon, 93 horses, 52 mules, 66 oxen, 19 cows, 17 dogs and some chickens, and carried enough supplies to fully provision the group for one year. Young divided this group into 14 companies, each with a designated captain. Apprehensive of possible danger posed by Native Americans , a militia and night guard

2520-490: The Salt Lake Valley. Several later companies were largely made up of people with fewer resources, who pulled or pushed handcarts (similar to wheelbarrows ) holding all of their provisions and personal belongings. Many of these pioneers walked much of the way as family members rode in the carts. Due to the weather in the American heartland, the best time to travel was April–September. Some companies, however, started late in

2610-702: The World ) and two platinum albums (in 1991, Hallmark Christmas: Carols of Christmas and in 1992, Hallmark Christmas: Celebrate Christmas! ). The choir has made over 200 recordings and continues to produce albums. For some live performances and albums, the choir has collaborated with large orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic , the Philadelphia Orchestra , the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London ,

2700-529: The announcement of the United States naval officer, who boarded the Brooklyn as she came to anchor, that the emigrants "were in the United States of America," three hearty cheers were given in reply... Three weeks previous to the arrival of the Saints, the United States flag had been raised and the country taken possession of in the name of the government which the flag represented. This dangerous trek of nearly 24,000 miles (39,000 km) would claim 10 lives of

2790-536: The beauty of the choir's music publicly, including Bryn Terfel , Gladys Knight (of Gladys Knight & the Pips ), Sting (of The Police ), James Taylor , Ric Ocasek (of The Cars ), and The Osmonds . Since its establishment, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has performed and recorded extensively, both in the United States (where U.S. President Ronald Reagan called it "America's Choir") and around

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2880-513: The building but ran into Young entering the building. Young encouraged him to sing and he returned to the bowery and sang. Stephens never married. He had an attachment to a girl in Willard when he was in his early twenties, but she died in a freak accident while in a stage performance. Later, Stephens was engaged to a woman who made a deathbed request at the end of her brief illness that he love her through his music. After his death, Stephens

2970-504: The camp's hunters for being wasteful of flesh ... killing more than was really needed. Camp was awakened by a bugle at 5 a.m. and the company was expected to be prepared for travel by 7 a.m. Each day's travel ended at 8:30 p.m. and the camp was in bed by 9 p.m. The company traveled six days during the week, but generally stayed in camp on Sunday to observe the Sabbath . Some camp members were assigned specific tasks. William Clayton

3060-484: The central gathering point in the Great Basin. The initial company would select and break the primary trail with the expectation that later pioneers would maintain and improve it. It was hoped that the group could, wherever possible, establish fords and ferries and plant crops for later harvest. In late February, plans were made to gather portable boats, maps, scientific instruments, farm implements and seeds. Techniques for irrigating crops were investigated. A new route on

3150-522: The choir has performed at include the following: It has also participated in several significant events, including: From its first national tour in 1893, under the direction of Evan Stephens , to the Chicago World's Fair , the choir has performed in locations around the world, including: A "heritage tour," which would have taken the Choir to various European venues, had been planned for 2021, but

3240-491: The choir made its first tour of Europe and earned a Grammy Award for its recording of the " Battle Hymn of the Republic ." At the end of the choir's 4,165th live broadcast on July 12, 2009, the show's host, Lloyd D. Newell, announced another milestone that the show had hit: the completion of its 80th year in existence. The show has been televised since the early 1960s and is now broadcast worldwide through approximately 1,500 radio and television stations. On October 5, 2018,

3330-502: The choir retired the name "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir" and adopted the name "The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square" in order to align with the direction of LDS Church leadership regarding the use of terms " Mormon " and "LDS" in referencing church members. The new name retains the reference to the historic Salt Lake Tabernacle, which has been the choir's home for over 150 years, and its location on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. Several award-winning popular artists have reflected on

3420-470: The choir sang the song "Let the Mountains shout for Joy" as their first ever recording. Three hundred of the 600 members showed up for the recording. Since July 15, 1929, the choir has performed a weekly radio broadcast , Music & the Spoken Word , which is one of the longer-running continuous radio network broadcasts in the world. Later directors brought more solid vocal training and worked to raise

3510-639: The city of Nauvoo. Sidney Rigdon was the First Counselor in the church's First Presidency , and as its spokesman, Rigdon preached several controversial sermons in Missouri, including the Salt Sermon and the July 4th Oration . These speeches have sometimes been seen as contributing to the conflict known as the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. As a result of the conflict, the Mormons were expelled from

3600-420: The company in which an ancestor traveled across the plains to get to Utah. This covers known and unknown wagon trains from 1847 to 1868. It contains lists of passengers in companies as well as genealogical information about ancestors. It is the most comprehensive list of Mormon immigrants and the wagon trains that brought them to Utah. Evan Stephens Evan Stephens (28 June 1854 – 27 October 1930)

3690-410: The company near Green River, Wyoming . He reported to Young about his group's successful journey and their settlement in what is today San Francisco, California . He urged the vanguard company to continue on to California but was unable to shift the leader's focus away from the Great Basin. Young also met mountain man Jim Bridger on June 28. They discussed possible routes into the Salt Lake Valley, and

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3780-588: The concert being aired on PBS and BYUtv , during December of the following year. The concert traditionally concludes with a performance of "Angels, from the Realms of Glory". Guest artists participate and sing with the choir most years. A guest narrator is also invited most years to read the Christmas story from the Book of Luke . Past guest artists have included: The choir holds a yearly summer concert in mid-late July as part of Utah's Pioneer Day celebrations. Unlike

3870-611: The constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark in 1849. Along with the Danish translation of the Book of Mormon, this opened the area to great success in attaining converts. At that time the LDS Church was urging new members to gather to Utah, which led these early converts to make emigration plans. Box Elder , Cache , Salt Lake , Utah , and Sevier counties had large numbers of Danes listed in 19th Century Utah census totals but Sanpete County

3960-415: The deck and even reached the staterooms... Children's voices were crying in the darkness, mother's voices soothing or scolding, men's voices rising above the others, all mingled with the distressing groans and cries of the sick for help, and, above all, the roaring of the wind and howling of the tempest made a scene and feeling indescribable. The passengers of the ship Brooklyn left the United States with

4050-501: The director of the choir had been viewed as a part-time office, who although given a stipend for his service, was expected to earn his main employ by other methods. In 1895, the leaders of the church decided to make the position of choir director full-time and doubled Stephens salary. In his book, Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth Century Americans , published in 1996, historian D. Michael Quinn expresses his view that Stephens had homosexual relationships and that these were tolerated by

4140-499: The feasibility of viable settlements in the mountain valleys of the Great Basin. Bridger was enthusiastic about settlement near Utah Lake, reporting fish, wild fruit, timber and good grazing. He told Young that local Indians raised good crops, including corn and pumpkins, but that there was ever-present danger of frost. The company pushed on through South Pass, rafted across the Green River and arrived at Fort Bridger on July 7. About

4230-421: The fields as she raised money to help pay to build the Salt Lake Temple . Stephens performed in his local congregation's choir as a boy. When Brigham Young came to visit, Stephens was embarrassed by his poverty, particularly his lack of coat or shoes, and painted his feet black with shoe polish. At the bowery before Young entered the building, Stephens became overcome with embarrassment and started to exit

4320-506: The first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful was established to the north. In 1848, pioneers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden . In 1849, Tooele and Fort Utah (also known as Fort Provo, in modern-day Provo ) were founded. The settlement of Provo was particularly troubling to the Utes, since it was at the heart of their territory. Ute chief Wakara suggested

4410-464: The group met trapper Miles Goodyear , who owned a trading post at the mouth of the Weber River. He was enthusiastic about the agricultural potential of the large Weber Valley. During the trip through the rugged mountains, the vanguard company divided into three sections. After crossing the Green River, several members of the party suffered from "mountain fever" (probably Colorado tick fever , which

4500-729: The hope of finding religious freedom. However, they arrived in Mexican Alta California just weeks after its occupation by the United States Navy at the outset of the Mexican–American War . Despite the tensions that drove them from their homes in the Eastern States, the crew and passengers "felt more cheerful and secure." Mormon historian B. H. Roberts noted in his work A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints : On

4590-475: The journey to the Salt Lake Valley. Several hundred, including Young, returned east to gather and organize the companies scheduled for following years. Demographic estimates place 1,611 pioneers in the valley of the Great Salt Lake during the winter of 1847. The adult labor force, however, was quite small as a high percentage of the group, 53.2 percent were under the age of nineteen. Twenty five percent of

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4680-465: The large number of Saints, their equipment, and their livestock. It was here that Young first met Thomas L. Kane , a non-Mormon from Philadelphia with deep personal connections to the administration of U.S. president James K. Polk administration. Kane obtained permission for the Mormons to winter on Indian territory, and the site was originally called Kanesville. Young continued to trust Kane throughout his own lifetime, particularly as an intermediary with

4770-495: The main party at Laramie, Wyoming . The first segment of the journey, from Winter Quarters to Fort Laramie , took six weeks, with the company arriving at the fort on June 1. The company halted for repairs and to reshoe the draft animals. While at Fort Laramie, the vanguard company was joined by members of the Mormon Battalion who had been excused from service due to illness and sent to winter in Pueblo, Colorado . Also traveling in

4860-529: The new group were church members from Mississippi who had taken a more southern route toward the Great Basin. At this point, the now larger company took the established Oregon Trail toward the trading post at Ft. Bridger . At a difficult crossing of the Platte, just before encountering the Sweetwater River , the company made use of their portable boat and were able to cross with comparative ease. Seizing

4950-790: The north bank of the Platte River and North Platte River and over the continental divide climbing up to South Pass and Pacific Springs from Fort John along the valley of the Sweetwater River, then down to Fort Bridger and from there down to the Great Salt Lake became known as the Mormon Trail . Financial resources of the church members varied, with many families suffering from the loss of land and personal possessions in Missouri , and Illinois . This impacted

5040-491: The north side of the Platte River was chosen to avoid major interaction with travelers using the established Oregon Trail on the river's south side. Given the needs of the large volume of Saints who would travel west, church leaders decided to avoid potential conflicts over grazing rights, water access and campsites. In April 1847, Young consulted with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who had recently returned from

5130-549: The number of goods they could haul on the long journey. As the oxen weakened under the strain, wagons were lightened by discarding prized possessions, including book collections, family china, and furniture. In 1847, just east of the Rocky Mountains, the Kimball family dug a large hole, wrapped their piano in buffalo skins and carefully buried it. An ox team retrieved the instrument the following spring and transported it to

5220-591: The often hostile federal government of the United States . This major undertaking was a significant test of leadership capability and the existing administrative network of the recently restructured church. For his role in the migration, Brigham Young is sometimes referred to as the "American Moses ." Young personally reviewed all available information on the Salt Lake Valley and the Great Basin , consulted with mountain men and trappers who traveled through Winter Quarters, and met with Father Pierre-Jean De Smet ,

5310-482: The opportunity to both help future travelers and increase the cash available to the migration, nine men under the direction of Thomas Grover were left behind to construct and operate a ferry at that location. Missourians and other travellers at the river paid the Saints $ 1.50 or more per wagon to help them cross. During the last week of June, Sam Brannan , leader of the voyage of the Brooklyn Saints , met

5400-475: The period (including the flight from Missouri in 1838 to Nauvoo), known as the Mormon Exodus is, by convention among social scientists, traditionally assumed to have ended with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. Not everyone could afford to transport a family by railroad, and the transcontinental railroad network only serviced limited main routes, so wagon train migrations to

5490-927: The pioneers instead move into the Sanpete Valley in central Utah, where they established the community of Manti . Tensions in Fort Utah mounted after Mormons murdered Old Bishop, and Young ordered an attack on Utes, called the Battle at Fort Utah . This was shortly followed by the Walker War . Fillmore, Utah , intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, efforts to subdue and evangelize to local Native people led to outposts in Fort Lemhi on Idaho's Salmon River , Las Vegas, Nevada and Elk Mountain in east-central of present-day Utah. The experiences of returning members of

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5580-469: The resources and supplies each family could draw upon as they covered the more than 1,000 miles (2,000 km) to the Great Basin. Church funds were also limited at this time, but church leaders provided what funding and other material assistance they could to families and companies which were undersupplied. Covered wagons pulled by oxen were common, particularly in the early American companies. In October 1845, as church members were preparing to leave Nauvoo,

5670-558: The same time, they were joined by thirteen more members of the sick detachment of the Mormon Battalion. The vanguard company now faced a more rugged and hazardous journey, and were concerned about negotiating the passes of the Rocky Mountains. They had received conflicting advice, but Young chose to follow the trail used by the Donner–Reed party on their journey to California the previous year. Shortly after leaving Fort Bridger,

5760-481: The sea voyage in five months and twenty-seven days. Augusta Joyce Crocheron , a passenger on the ship Brooklyn , described the voyage: As for the pleasure of the trip, we met disappointment, for we once lay becalmed in the tropics, and at another time we were "hatched below" during a terrific storm. Women and children were at night lashed to their berths, for in no other way could they keep in. Furniture rolled back and forth endangering limb and life. The waves swept

5850-402: The season which resulted in hardship and sometimes disaster. The most famous of these are the Willie and the Martin handcart companies. Leaving Iowa in July 1856, they did not reach Utah until November, suffering many deaths due to winter weather and the lack of adequate supplies. In November 1845, Samuel Brannan , newspaperman and small-scale publisher of the Mormon paper The Prophet (later

5940-714: The ship's 238 passengers, nine of whom were buried at sea . Brooklyn Place, in Chinatown, San Francisco , is named for the ship, as was the erstwhile Brooklyn, California . After the initial departure of the Latter-day Saints living in Illinois and Missouri, converts to the church from other areas in the United States and from Europe followed the initial trail to join the main body of the church in Salt Lake City. Every year from 1847 until 1869, church members making this journey were formed into organized companies. Migration continued until about 1890, but those who came by railroad are not generally considered to be "Mormon pioneers." Mormon pioneers emigrated from many countries. Denmark

6030-505: The sovereignty rights held by the Shoshone , Utes , and the Goshutes . The U.S. Army captured Santa Fe de Nuevo México and the colonized parts of Alta California in late 1846, but the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo would not cede northern Mexico to the United States until February, 1848. Young organized a vanguard company to break the trail west to the Rocky Mountains , gather information about trail conditions, including water sources and Native American tribes, and to ultimately select

6120-460: The spot where he made this declaration. Young later reported that he had seen the valley, including Ensign Peak , in a vision and recognized the spot. On July 28, Young established a location for the future Salt Lake Temple and presented a city plan to the larger group for their approval. In August 1847, Young and other selected members of the vanguard company returned to Winter Quarters. By December 1847, more than two thousand Mormons had completed

6210-406: The standards of the choir. The choir also began improving as an ensemble and increased its repertoire from around one hundred songs to nearly a thousand. On July 15, 1929, the choir performed its first radio broadcast of Music & the Spoken Word . By 1950, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performed numerous concerts each year and had released its first long-playing recording. During the 1950s,

6300-429: The state by Governor Boggs , and Rigdon and Smith were arrested and imprisoned in Liberty Jail . Rigdon was released on a writ of habeas corpus and made his way to Illinois , where he joined the main body of Mormon refugees in 1839. In 1844, Smith, and his brother, Hyrum , were killed by a mob while in custody in the city of Carthage, Illinois . In 1846, religious tensions reached their peak, and in 1848 mobs burned

6390-402: The teaching of music at the University of Utah . Stephens also served as the first public school music supervisor in Utah. In 1899, the Missionary Song Book , edited by Stephens, was distributed in the LDS Church's Southern States Mission . In the 1927 English-language LDS Church hymnal there were 84 hymns written by Stephens. Stephens's 18 works in the 1985 English-language edition of

6480-633: The teachings of the current leadership of the church "is entirely consistent with the teachings of past leaders and with the scriptures." Specifically, Mitton and James disagree with Quinn's theory that Stephens was involved in intimate relationships with other men, or that the article in The Children's Friend was about these relationships. They point to it instead as reflecting normal youthful respect for older males. They also point out that Stephens's relationship with his great niece, Sarah Daniels, undermines Quinn's claims. Specifically, Stephens maintained

6570-491: The top of a tall ladder and announce the name of each performance piece into the microphone suspended from the Tabernacle ceiling. Kimball remained at the post for only 11 months, when he was replaced by Richard L. Evans , who continued in that capacity until his death in 1971. J. Spencer Kinard took over as announcer in 1972 until he stepped down in 1990. Lloyd D. Newell served as the announcer until mid-June 2024, and he

6660-485: The total were children under the age of eight. Each year during the Mormon migration, people continued to be organized into "companies", each company bearing the name of its leader. The company was further divided into groups of 10 and 50 with authority and responsibility delegated downward. The pioneers traveled to the Salt Lake Valley in the Great Basin using mainly large farm wagons, handcarts , and, in some cases, personally carrying their belongings. Their trail along

6750-482: The trek, the youth dress as pioneers and pack a few things to carry in handcarts. They go on a hike for a couple of days so they can experience what the pioneers had. During this multi-day event, camp organizers sometimes require youth to avoid the use of technology or anything that the pioneers did not have on their journeys, to enhance the experience. The Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel gathers information from journals, church history records, and other materials to locate

6840-432: The world. The following are some of its key points: The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has performed for ten presidents of the United States beginning with William Howard Taft . The choir has also performed at the inaugurations of United States presidents Lyndon B. Johnson (1965), Richard M. Nixon (1969), Ronald Reagan (1981), George H. W. Bush (1989), George W. Bush (2001), and Donald Trump (2017). Other notable events

6930-463: Was sealed by proxy to his great niece, Sarah Daniels. Stephens had intended on marrying her, and arranged for her to come to Utah from the United Kingdom in 1902. Stephens had anticipated that she would convert to the LDS Church on coming to Utah, but when this did not happen, he arranged for her to be his housekeeper. According to interviews of Stephens's relatives conducted in the 1950s and

7020-520: Was a Latter-day Saint composer and hymn writer. He was also the director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for 26 years (1890–1916). Stephens was born at Pencader , Wales. He moved with his family to Willard , Utah Territory when he was twelve. His parents had converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) before his birth. When he was a very small child his mother would take him with her to work in

7110-456: Was also the director of the choir who moved it into the field of performing concerts at non-religious events. For part of the time that Stephens was director of the choir, he held the title of president of the choir and was assisted by two counselors, echoing a system of ecclesiastical leadership used throughout the LDS Church. Beginning in 1895, Stephens became the first man employed by the LDS Church as full-time choir director. Prior to this,

7200-474: Was appointed as the choir's conductor and the Tabernacle Choir began to improve musically. Under Careless, the first large choir was assembled by adding smaller choral groups to the main Salt Lake Choir. This larger choir, just over 300, sang at the church's October 6–8, 1873 general conference . It was at this point that the choir began to match the size of the spacious Tabernacle. On September 1, 1910,

7290-660: Was appointed company scribe and was expected to record an accurate description of their journey and the distance they traveled each day. Clayton collaborated with Orson Pratt , a mathematician, and Appleton Harmon, a carpenter, to create a wagon-wheel odometer, or roadometer . It showed that the company averaged between fourteen and twenty miles per day. Apostle Orson Pratt was named the company's scientific observer. He made regular readings on scientific instruments, took notes on geological formations and mineral resources, and described plants and animals. Journals kept by both Clayton and Pratt have become valuable resources for historians of

7380-685: Was built in 1834 by Joseph H. Russell at Newcastle, Maine. The voyage is the longest passage made by a Mormon emigrant company. The ship Brooklyn sailed from Brooklyn Harbor, New York, and traveled south across the Atlantic equator, around Cape Horn , stopping at the Juan Fernández Islands , then to the Sandwich Islands ( Hawaii ), finally docking in Yerba Buena (now San Francisco ) on July 29, 1846, having made

7470-559: Was crucial. Almost immediately, Young sent out scouting parties to identify and settle additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed in all directions. Church members eventually headed south into present-day Arizona and Mexico, west into California, north into Idaho and Canada, and east into Wyoming, settling many communities in those areas. Shortly after

7560-524: Was formed under the direction of Stephen Markham . On April 5, 1847, at 2 p.m., the wagon train moved west from Winter Quarters toward the Great Basin. With the afternoon start, they made three miles (5 km) and camped in a line a few hundred yards from a stand of timber. Journal records show that Young actively managed the journey, supervising details and occasionally giving reprimands when evening and Sunday recreation became rowdy or group members failed to complete their tasks. On one occasion, he chastised

7650-409: Was one of those countries, with a large number of Mormon emigrants coming to Utah between 1850 and 1910. The migration of Danes was initiated when missionaries from the LDS Church, including Erastus Snow , Peter O. Hansen and two others, were sent to Denmark in 1850. Hansen made the first translation of the Book of Mormon from English, by translating it into Danish. Religious freedom was written into

7740-530: Was postponed to 2022, before subsequently being canceled. In 2023, the choir announced it would embark on a multi-year, multi-stop global ministry tour. The first stop took the choir to Mexico City, Mexico for six days, where they performed multiple concerts, engaged in service projects, and recorded a music video. In late 2023, the choir announced that the next stop in their tour would be the Philippines in 2024. The choir performs an annual Christmas concert in

7830-634: Was succeeded by Derrick Porter. The choir has a number of awards, including the National Medal of Arts (2003), a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus (1960), and four Emmy Awards (1987, 2013, 2014). The choir is also an inductee to the American Classical Music Hall of Fame (2015) and the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame (2004). The 320-person choir

7920-709: Was taken by about 70,000 people, beginning with advance parties sent out by church leaders in March 1846 after the 1844 death of the church's leader Joseph Smith made it clear that the group could not remain in Nauvoo, Illinois —which the church had recently purchased, improved, renamed, and developed, because of the Missouri Mormon War , setting off the Illinois Mormon War . The well-organized wagon train migration began in earnest in April 1847, and

8010-524: Was the area where the largest number settled. The Mormons settled in the Salt Lake Valley, which at that time was used as a buffer zone between the Shoshones and the Utes , who were at war. Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons developed and cultivated the arid terrain to make it more suitable. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches and schools. Access to water

8100-467: Was the first woman selected for the company. She was in ill health and Lorenzo Young feared to leave her and their young children behind. The other original women of the company, Ellen Sanders Kimball, wife of Heber C. Kimball, and Clarissa Decker Young, wife of Brigham Young, were asked to accompany the group to look after Harriet Young and keep her company. The three women were joined by a larger group of women church members from Mississippi who merged with

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