It is arguably the most well-known choral arrangement of a hymn or anthem in the United States. So when Craig Jessop, music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, invited several hundred members of the American Choral Directors Association to join the choir on stage at the Conference Center March 2 to sing the Peter J. Wilhousky arrangement of "Battle Hymn of the Republic," the choral directors needed no rehearsal.
The performance was the conclusion and climax of a special concert of the choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square, put on as a headline event for the association's Western Division Convention in Salt Lake City.
"Thank you for coming to our house tonight!" Brother Jessop said in introductory remarks. "We were so honored to be in Los Angeles at the convention last year, and to have this opportunity to sing for you at our house is a great honor."
For a convention in March, the concert began in an unconventional way, as Brother Jessop noted, with a set of Christmas music.
"We only get to sing it once a year," Brother Jessop said. "Christmas has become a very important part of our celebrations at Temple Square. It always has been through the years, but with the advent of this wonderful Conference Center, Christmas now has become a national event for us on PBS, and each year we add a new element."
Thus, the set included "Gloria in excelis Deo: A Christmas Processional" composed by associate music director Mack Wilberg for the concert in 2005; "Still, Still, Still," an Austrian carol arranged by Brother Wilberg for the 2003 event; and "Carol of the Bells" arranged by Barlow Bradford for the 2000 concert.
Introducing a set of music from Bach, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven, Brother Jessop reflected upon the long tradition of singing by Latter-day Saint choirs, beginning with the dedication of the temple in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1836 and extending to the formation of the Tabernacle Choir with the completion of the Salt Lake Tabernacle in 1867 under President Brigham Young.
"When the Latter-day Saints came west," he said, "Brigham Young made sure that every handcart company and wagon train had two essential positions in them: a cooper, one who could make wagon wheels, and a musician — a fife player or a violinist — someone who could lift the spirits of the people as they made their arduous trek out to Salt Lake Valley, to the desert here." The choir sang the choral master works in honor of the pioneer forefathers who brought such great music to the Salt Lake Valley.
Brother Jessop also told of the choir's long-running network radio program, now in its 77th year, which will observe its 4,000th broadcast on April 30. This was followed by a set of the choir's well-loved folk song renditions, arranged by Mack Wilberg. Singing of folk music, Brother Jessop said, fulfills the charge given to the choir to "sing to the people."
A "Music of the World" set featured the Wasatch & District Pipe Band and the newest addition to the Church's family of performing groups, the Bells on Temple Square.
Prolonged applause and a standing ovation was the audience response to the choir's performance of "Come, Come, Ye Saints," which was preceded by Brother Jessop recounting the story of it being written by William Clayton while he was encamped with the pioneers on the plains of Iowa during the 1846 exodus from Nauvoo.
And he noted that the choir's recording of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" with Eugene Ormandy's Philadelphia Orchestra in 1959 was in the nation's top 10 popular recordings at the time and won a Grammy Award.
"I think every choir in the United States that is a church choir has probably sung this arrangement" of the Battle Hymn, Brother Jessop noted.
The choral directors filled risers on each side of the stage, but that was still not enough room, and a multitude spanned the stage in front of the choir and orchestra.
"I don't mind if you don't watch the conductor," Brother Jessop joked.
E-mail: rscott@desnews.com