Mormon Music
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints musicians come from diverse backgrounds, musical styles and tastes; yet many have found success in the music industry, including making Billboard’s classical charts.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has become an internationally acclaimed cultural ambassador, performing at multiple presidential inaugurals and touring throughout Eastern and Slavic Europe. But what about other forms of Mormon artistic expression?
Hymns
Hymns play an essential part of Mormon music. Used to bring reverence and the spirit into meetings, hymns can be just as impactful as scripture in raising spirits and stirring action.
The Church has amassed an extensive library of hymns that spans over 1000 years, from simple exquisite chant to the work of some of history’s greatest musical minds. However, many hymns remain relatively unfamiliar among its membership; when repeated three or four times during an event meeting it can generally be assumed that most members have at least some familiarity with all lyrics and music of that hymn.
The church is currently working on creating a hymnbook called “Hymns-for Home and Church,” featuring songs that more reflect its emphasis on home-centered worship that encourages families to learn about and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. This publication should take place by 2026.
Spirituals
Spirituals are sacred folk songs composed and originally performed by African American slaves as a form of communication about their religious faith, sharing stories of suffering, hope and triumph in an emotional way.
Slaves did not have access to musical instruments, yet many were skilled at creating harmony through vocal blending and the art of vocal harmony. Their musical talents enabled them to endure hardship while adding joy into their lives.
Spirituals were an effective means to express a variety of topics using coded words in call and response style as well as metonymy (using similar sounding words instead of unrelated ones). Spirituals provided religious education while simultaneously conveying both material and spiritual freedom.
In the 19th century, composers such as Henry Thacker Burleigh created piano-voice arrangements of spirituals that became widely performed concert repertoire. Additionally, The Fisk Jubilee Singers from 1871 began touring to further increase popularity of these songs.
Folk Songs
Folk songs differ from hymns in that they do not contain religious lyrics and often feature iconic tunes such as Stephen Foster’s Camptown Races. Folk songs have long been part of Mormon church history, often as part of pioneer-era unity singing events.
Early 1900s saw the rise of stripped-down Latter-day Saint folk music, inspired by traditional black spirituals with call-and-response techniques used like modern Christian Contemporary music. This form became one of the most widely played forms.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is well-known, and watching it perform live can be incredible. Think of it like Utah’s NFL team; all its members volunteer their services!
Austin Fife quickly recognized that Mormon culture possessed an abundant musical legacy during his academic career in Utah folklore studies. To preserve it further, he conducted numerous field recordings of regional folk songs throughout Utah and the American West; some are available in his book Folksongs from the Beehive State.
Oratorios
Oratorio, in which dramatic text is combined with large-scale musical compositions, has long been an integral component of Mormon music. A common topic during general conferences has been their patronage and performance of opera.
Leroy Robertson attained some international renown with his Oratorio from the Book of Mormon performance by featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Utah Symphony under Maurice Abravanel’s direction; however, its initial popularity did not lead to sustained support outside Utah.
Each year a different artist contributes an oratorio for EFY (especially for youth), an annual album produced by the Church Educational System’s summer youth program. This provides a great opportunity to listen to Mormon music while studying its techniques–such as sequence of movements, compositional structure, texture and instrumentation–using Youtube and IMSLP platforms as research resources.
