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MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR  

“BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC“

 (Julia Ward Howe, William Steffe)

Columbia 41459

No. 13    October 26. 1959

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The Mormons have often been nicknamed “The Singing Saints,” and vocal rejoicing has been a part

of their religious practice since the formation of the Church of the Latter Day Saints by Joseph Smith

in 1830.  The forerunner of the Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as it is officially known, was

established on August 22, 1847, less than two weeks after Brigham Young and his hardy followers

began setting up their base in Utah’s Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

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Two years later, John Perry became the choir’s regular director.  Richard P. Condie (b. 1898,

Springville, UT; d. Dec. 22, 1985), a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music of Music

and a young tenor in many traveling opera­ company productions, worked as the assistant conductor

of the choir for 20 years before becoming the choir’s 11th conductor in 1957, at the age of 59.  The

group had toured and recorded on numerous  occasions:  for one  recording  session,  in 1910,  the

Columbia Phonograph Company used two mammoth horns, coupled directly to the recording needle

and wax disk, to capture the rejoicing.

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Condie had certain ideas about just how the choir should sound.  He had grown up listening to

Italian immigrants singing romantic old songs and wanted a sound like that for the choir.  Many

have since credited Condie with creating the “Tabernacle Choir sound.”

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In 1958, Condie and his 300-plus voices, with the frill support of Eugene Ormandy and the

Philadelphia Orchestra, recorded one of the most memorable–and one of the strangest entries

on the charts, the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”  ‘ Their rendition of this “oldie” from 1862

earned them a Grammy as “Bcst Perfor­mance by a Vocal Group.”

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The Mormon Tabernade Choir has appeared on many TV programs, including “The Ed Sullivan

Show”; an intercontinental satellite btoadcast from Mt. Rushmore (1962); and NBC’s coverage

of the Statue of Liberty Centonnial.  More than 150 albums have been issued, and four of them–

The Lord’s Prayer (1959), The Spirit of Christmas ( 1959), Songs of the North & South 1861-1865

(1961), and Tht Lord’s Prayer Volume II (1963)–made Billboard’s top pop albums chart.