This week in Church history
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50 years ago
During a concert tour to Southern California during the 1959 Thanksgiving weekend, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir also received a Grammy from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
An article in the Dec. 5, 1959, Church News reported that the choir "took Southern California by storm" on the tour which included the Grammy, "presented at the academy's first television awards show for the choir's widely played Columbia recording to 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic,' recorded last fall in Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy."
The choir left Salt Lake City Thanksgiving night, Nov. 26, for concerts and rehearsals Friday, Saturday and Sunday. President David O. McKay and his wife, Emma Ray McKay, attended some of the choir's events. The choir was greeted upon its arrival in Los Angeles by Elder Howard W. Hunter of the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder Richard L. Evans of the Quorum of the Twelve, narrator of "Music and the Spoken Word," offered commentary during concerts.
The article stated: "Most overwhelming performances of the choir came at the 6,700-seat Shrine Auditorium. There the singers, under skillful direction of Richard P. Condie, presented two public concerts and a CBS radio broadcast and concert for huge audiences."
The finale at all concerts was "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
