Choral composers and conductors Evan Stephens and Mack Wilberg: Their influence on music in the Latter-Day Saints Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has endorsed choral music throughout its history, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir serving as a model for appropriate sacred music. Since the mid-1800s, music standards in the church have been challenged as a result of secular music influences such as gospel songs. Tabernacle Choir Director Evan Stephens helped to create a higher standard of sacred music in the church through his work with the choir, the community, and the popularization of his hymns and anthems. After his death in 1930, and after decades of an infiltration of popular music in the church, Tabernacle Choir Associate Director Mack Wilberg has worked to maintain Stephens's standard of appropriate and appealing sacred music through his work with the choir, and through his poignant and powerful hymn arrangements. Both Stephens and Wilberg have elevated music standards in the church through their influences.