|
 Evan Stephens LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 1, p.740
Stephens, Evan, director of the Tabernacle Choir, was born June 28, 1854, in the village of Pencader, Carmarthenshire, South Wales, tenth child of David and Jane Stephens. The home of the family at the time was a small straw-thatched cottage, and his parents were compelled to toil long hours and practice rigid economy in order to feed and clothe, in comfort and decency, their multifarious offspring. His father followed the occupation of a farm laborer. Little Evan was a sickly, puny babe and there were many and grave doubts as to whether he would not, at a tender age, be retired from the battle of life by the spectre which sooner or later overtakes all mankind. But he survived the ills and perils of childhood, and as maturity approached developed a stronger constitution; though he was never a robust man, physically. All the family [p.741] spoke their ancient native tongue, and before the age of six Evan began to attend the village school, which was a strictly English one, and he did not understand a word of that language. Between the ages of six and ten years he spent much of his time in school; but his earnings were needed for family expenses, and when ten years old he was employed on a farm to herd cattle and sheep, and perform such other labor as he was capable of. His brothers and sisters were all obliged to earn, or aid in earning, their own living, at an early age, and he did likewise. His parents were both Latter-day Saints prior to his birth, and he was baptized when about eight years old. The meetings of the local branch were held at the home of his family, and at least some of the features of the religious exercises made deep impressions upon his mind at a very early age. Speaking of his earliest recollections of the singing of hymns, he says that the effect it had upon him was poetical rather than musical. The singing was all in one part, and to him was not very impressive; but he always noted the metre of the hymns, and readily knew what tune was suited to a given one. In 1866, when he was twelve years old, his parents, with some of their children, including him, migrated from their native country to Utah. An elder son Thomas and a daughter Ann had preceded the rest of the family, and were living in Willard, Box Elder county, and it was through aid extended by them that the parents and other children were enabled to make the journey. The immigrating family reached Salt Lake City, Oct. 2, 1866, and a week later went to Willard, Box Elder county, where they settled. The experiences and environments into which young Evan plunged, and which engaged and surrounded him during the following twelve years were certainly not of a character ordinarily supposed to tend towards the development of musical talent. They were so completely the reverse of this that the wonder is they did not smother every smoldering musical flame in the soul of the young immigrant. A boy of twelve, and by no means robust, he became a farm hand, his wages being his board. Evan was most of the time, summer and winter, a hired hand with some of the farmers of the little town of Willard. First he herded sheep and performed the lighter kinds of farm labor, and as he grew older he was compelled to acquire all experience in the harder sorts of farm work, hauling wood from the mountains, etc. Even the humble and laborious employment of a hod carrier was embraced in the regiment an overruling Providence had laid out for him; and for some years he carried rock and mortar to build several residences in Willard. When about nineteen years old, Evan Stephens changed his employment as a farm hand and common laborer to become a section hand on the Utah Northern railroad. He regarded this as a decided promotion. It was a change that brought him cash for wages, instead of grain, livestock, etc., in which his employers had usually settled their scores with him. This change brought another advantage, for at his new employment he had to work ten hours a day, whereas farm work and chores filled in all the time from sunrise till sunset. He thus found a little time in which to study music. At the time he went to Willard that place possessed an unusually good choir, for those days, and at the first Sabbath service the boy attended, he was charmed by the singing. He soon became greatly attached to its leader, Daniel Tovey, who ere long enlisted him as an alto boy, in which capacity he soon became a valued member of the choir. Not long after he joined the choir he was seized with an intense longing to learn to read music. For [p.742] this purpose he quietly borrowed some of the choir books, and, unaided, tried to grasp the significance of the notes. He at length managed to learn a few easy tunes. No one knew what he was trying to do, consequently he had no assistance. He was now thirteen years of age, and excessively timid and bashful. It was these qualities that prevented him from seeking help. His love for music grew, and soon the tedium of farm work began to be accompanied by a longing in the boy's heart to write music of his own; when he was about fourteen years old, Brother Tovey, the leader of the choir, and several of its members, to whom the boy was much attached, removed from Willard to Malad valley. Young Evan would gladly have gone with them, had not his parents objected. Brother David P. Jones, who had helped the boy to become an alto singer, now became leader of the choir, and Evan was satisfied to continue singing under him. About this time Evan's brother John arrived from Wales, bringing some new tune books, and the former was permitted to feast on their contents. At this time also, Evan was employed by a stone mason, whose name was Shadrach Jones, and who was a lover of music and the choir's basso. While the boy helped him build walls, Brother Jones would talk to him of leading Welsh musicians, and even of Handel, the greatest master. Evan's brother John, who was homesick for his beloved Wales, with its feasts of music, would describe to him the grand choral contests of the Welsh people, "thus inspiring me," as Professor Stephens lately said to the writer, "to new and delightful efforts, and day-dreams of grand performances, though I really thought nothing of myself in connection with them; but my imagination reveled in such conceptions." While Evan was still "clerking" for the musical mason, Brother Shadrach Jones, in other words, carrying the hod for him, Brother Edward Woozley came direct from Wales to take charge of the choir, and organize a brass band, at Willard. The new choir leader brought with him a large quantity of fine music, the kind described by Evan's brother. He liked boy altos, and soon made Evan their leader. The latter copied his part, and generally the entire piece, and soon formed a taste for really classical vocal music. But the band he did not like, and, much to the annoyance of Brother Woozley, always refused to take part in it. Evan had entered his sixteenth year when his brother Thomas bought a four-octave cabinet organ. Fortune overruled that Evan should spend some months at home that winter, and he thus began to play on what has always been his favorite instrument. At this time he was growing fast and working hard, but his passion for music rapidly increased in intensity. Every leisure moment was occupied in reading, writing or thinking music. A new impetus was soon to be given to his progress in music, and of the circumstances attending it he speaks in the following strain, tinged with a peculiar humor which is one of his characteristics: " A visit to Salt Lake City, for the purpose of attending conference, enabled me to hear the great organ and the Tabernacle Choir, and to witness a concert in the Fifteenth Ward under the direction of Thomas C. Griggs; also to become acquainted with the tithing yard as a fashionable resort, with its softly perfumed manure piles on which to slumber. It was many years before I sought any other stopping place in Salt Lake City." Speaking of the same visit Professor Stephens says: "It was during this visit that I entered the Tabernacle in true country style, minus coat, when, under the shadow of the great organ, I was asked to return to my hotel and don that article, which was, even then, in Salt Lake City, deemed essential on such an occasion. I haven't got to the dress coat yet, and I know not how soon I may receive a similar invitation to either vacate or appear in that becoming garment." In 1870, when he was in his seventeenth year, he worked on the road in Little Cottonwood canyon for some months, and music slumbered. But on his return to Willard it was taken up again. This year, during the absence of the choir leader, Brother Jones, Evan was invited to take his place. The Willard choir had been invited to take part with the Tabernacle choir, under Professor George Careless, at the October conference, and there were twenty-four hymn tunes and anthems to learn in two months. Evan had managed to purchase, with wheat, a small cabinet organ, which was kept in the [p.743] tithing granary, above the bins, that he might practice without disturbing any one after work hours. He could play the hymn tunes, but not the more difficult anthems, and as he was the only organist, and his the only organ, in town, the hardest part of the work of preparing for the conference was done with the voice alone. The "Hallelujah chorus" from Handel's "Messiah" was the most difficult and the first of the twenty-four pieces the young leader undertook to teach his choir. The latter sang it at home before going to conference. The rising young musician had, by this time, composed considerable music, some of which was sung at local concerts given during the winter of 1870-71. During this winter and most of the time until he ceased manual labor, eight years later, he carried out, in addition to his other duties, substantially the following program of musical work each week: As organist for the Sabbath school, he performed at one rehearsal, and on Sunday morning; he led the choir at two meetings and one rehearsal; and when concerts were given, one or two additional rehearsals were held; and he led the singing at one quorum meeting. There were added to his weekly musical work, a portion of the time, one or two glee club practices, and the training of a music reading class. On reaching his twentieth year he was a railroad section hand, happy in the thought that with a day's work of only ten hours, he would have more leisure time than heretofore to devote to music. Up to this time his musical compositions had been written at odd moments, but now, after work hours, he could give more time, and with greater regularity, to music. He read much of such general literature as was within his reach, and was very fond of poetry and the drama. He had been a member of a dramatic association for two or three years. Several of his plays had been performed to the immense satisfaction of the good people of Willard. Some of them were musical dramas, which after having been successfully given in Willard, were repeated in Logan, after his removal to the latter place. For nearly five years he was a railroad section hand, usually spending the winter in shoveling snow or gravel in the mountains which divide Salt Lake and Cache valleys. It was this employment that first took him to Logan, at which time he was about twenty-four years old. In 1879 the Logan Tabernacle choir needed an organist. The leader, Prof. Alex. Lewis, had heard Evan Stephens play, one evening, while the latter was on a snow shoveling expedition to Logan, and was pleased with the performance. Prof. Lewis wrote to the young man, asking if he would be willing to come to Logan, provided employment were found for him at the railroad shops there. He had been receiving as a railroad section hand, $37.50 per month, and when a letter came offering him $2 per day, he hesitated no longer. He became an inmate of the household of Prof. Lewis, and he speaks most gratefully and affectionately of the home he had there. His connection with the Logan choir, which even at that time was a splendid organization, gave him intense satisfaction, and it was his delight to accompany its singing on the organ. But the daily labor by which he earned his bread, embittered his life. He was striker for a black-smith, an extra cross one, "made more so perhaps," says Prof. Stephens, "by my incapacity. I was not master of my arm beat." He adds: "This was the second occupation in life that I had tried and which I thoroughly detested. The other was working on a threshing machine, especially at the chaff end." Six weeks of striking for a blacksmith was all he could endure, and he returned to Willard. But he was immediately urged to come back to Logan as a music teacher, and after holding the matter under advisement a short time, decided to do this. This decision launched him on an upward and onward course of remarkable swiftness, and from the time when he put it into execution, which was in the month of April, 1880, dates his career as a professional musician. He began by giving eight or ten hour lessons daily to private pupils on the organ, but soon had singing classes, both juvenile and adult. He had had experience in singing class work in Willard, where most of the young people in town had been under his instruction. From the outset of his career as a teacher, Professor Evan Stephens has [p.744] had both a penchant and a talent for teaching singing on a wholesale plan. Large classes have been his forte, and the larger they are the better pleased he seems. He has always appeared able, ever since he began teaching music, to draw children and young people to him in immense numbers. A number of times during Stake conferences Evan Stephens gave concerts in Logan, which surprised and delighted the people, and attracted the attention of some of the general authorities of the Church. These entertainments practically demonstrated his ability to accomplish remarkable results in the training of singing classes composed of the crudest material. Something over two years had thus been spent in Logan (during which time a number of airs and Sunday School tunes, composed by Evan Stephens, had become popular throughout the Territory), when finding himself financially able to do so, he determined to spend some time in Salt Lake City for the purpose of studying the pipe organ. He began this study in March, 1882, under Professor Joseph J. Daynes, but ere long the officers of the Deseret Sunday School Union requested him to organize classes of Sabbath school children and teach them to sing, as he had done in Willard and Logan. He responded and soon was giving instruction to 250 children, gratis. After some months of training, the little ones sang in a concert given in the Salt Lake Theatre, an entertainment which cleared expenses, and created a demand for more juvenile singing classes. Within a week 400 new pupils were added, and this movement led to a series of concerts given in the Tabernacle, at which juvenile choruses, embracing hundreds of children, sang. These concerts were all given partly for the benefit of some public institution, and partly to sustain the classes. After three years of study and labor in Salt Lake City, during which time he had enlisted the sympathy and co-operation of the then leading vocalists of the city by his unstinted aid to their progress, Professor Stephens began to foster a longing desire to go east. He wished to ascertain where he really stood in music, and what his deficiencies were, and to take a course of study. About the time he began to entertain this purpose, the litigation in which the Church was involved compelled the disuse of the Tabernacle for entertainments requiring an admission fee; but Professor Stephens had been preparing his juvenile classes for a concert in that building, and he gave it at his own expense, admission being free. However, a few enthusiastic friends reimbursed him for most of his outlay. This concert was given in May, 1885, and immediately thereafter Professor Stephens went to Boston, where he remained ten months, studying under George Chadwick and George E. Whiting, at the New England conservatory of music. Owing to the Tabernacle being no longer used for any except free entertainments, Prof. Stephens saw no encouragement in continuing to organize and teach large juvenile classes. He therefore formed some adult classes, which grew in proficiency until they could study operas; and at length out of them was evolved the Stephens' Opera Company, which embraced a large number of young ladies and gentlemen who could sing, and flourished during the years 1888 and 1889. This organization performed "The Bohemian Girl," "Martha" and "Daughter of the Regiment" very creditably, and to immense audiences, in the Salt Lake Theatre. In 1889, the Tabernacle was again opened for concerts, and the great musician Gilmore arranged to give one in it. Prof. Stephens was engaged to organize and train a chorus for the occasion, and did so, thereby adding to his reputation. After the Gilmore concert, the members of the chorus desired to retain Prof. Stephens as instructor, and the result was the organization, in 1889, of the Salt Lake Choral Society, with him as director. This organization embraced a membership numbering about four hundred, and included most of the amateur musical talent of the city. Prof. Stephens labored ardently as its instructor. In 1890 the society gave a musical festival which was a great success, and in the following year it gave another similar entertainment, at which appeared the noted singers Emma Thursby and Myron B. Whitney at a salary of $2,000. The following two years, Haydn's "Creation" and Dudley Buck's "Ligh of Asia" were given with much success. The success of this society, and the excellence of its performances, led to the desire, that a [p.745] Tabernacle choir of large dimensions should be built up, and Prof. Stephens was requested by the general authorities of the Church to undertake the task. He was appointed director of the Tabernacle choir, and within six months the number of its members had been increased to 300. This increase in the size of the choir necessitated some alterations in that part of the Tabernacle occupied by it. The changes were suggested by Prof. Stephens, and made under the skillful direction of the Church architect, Joseph D. C. Young. The cost was paid partly by the Church and partly out of funds raised by concerts given by the choir. The improvement was found to benefit the acoustics of the building so much that the hanging decorations within it could be removed. Soon after this, in 1892, Prof. Stephens again took up teaching the children by wholesale, and organized a choir of twelve hundred juvenile voices, for preparatory training. The little ones did good work, but on account of the indifference of parents, this organization was disbanded in 1894. At the present time the Tabernacle choir has over six hundred enrolled members, and while it has for many years, been a noted body of singers, the last eleven years has seen it acquire a world-wide fame. Two hundred and fifty of its members entered the contest at the World's Fair in 1893 and won the second prize of $1,000 besides giving very successful concerts in Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago and Omaha en route. From 1885 to 1900, Prof. Stephens had charge of vocal music at the University of Utah, during which time several thousand students of that institution have been taught to read and teach music, in a simple and effective manner. His energetic work, especially in class teaching, has a marked effect in making popular the study of vocal music throughout the entire State of Utah. About three-fourths of all this labor has been performed gratuitously, and the rest at a nominal tuition fee, seldom more than one dollar per term. At ordinary prices of even class teaching, the public of the northern half of the Territory, mainly of Salt Lake City, have received not less than $50,000 worth of vocal music lessons gratis from Prof. Evan Stephens. Out of his musical work have grown the popular concerts which have been given from time to time under his direction, and he gives it as his opinion that they have done more than any other one thing to keep musical interest alive and growing in this community during the term named. He has published several text-books on music, mainly for his own use, containing material suitable for applying his own methods of teaching. Professor Stephens was the first, and, with one exception, the only person to venture opera by local talent on the merit of its musical work. Prof. Stephens was the means of fostering much good will and harmony among vocalists of all creeds, by successfully organizing and for five years keeping together a choral society, which gave several public entertainments and oratorios. The great growth and success of the Tabernacle choir at length compelled him to sever his connection with the former organization. In 1888 he was appointed director of music for the Y. M. M. I. A., and since then has done much to introduce male chorus singing among the members of that numerous order. For this purpose he furnished selections for the "Contributor." and organized and managed male chorus contests under the auspices of the mutual associations. These measures have done much to foster male singing. Prof. Stephens has done much towards bringing into notice and popularity home musical compositions of merit. The fact that anthems, glees and choruses composed by home talent often intersperse the program of a concert given in a Utah town, is largely due to his efforts. He has also had the honor and the labor of advancing the study of music in the public schools of Salt Lake City. Since the choir visited the "World's Fair" it has won first prizes at two grand contests in Salt Lake City also. It has taken three great excursions out of the State: one to Colorado and two to California. The making of the Tabernacle choir a financial self-supporting organization, including these great excursions, has involved the raising and expenditure of nearly one hundred thousand dollars, which has been done under Prof. Stephens' management almost unaided, and the two trips to California entirely at his own risk, without either financial backing or aid from any committee. In 1900 he took a rest, and a [p.746] visiting trip to Europe for a few months, since which time he has wonderfully improved in health. At present his labors comprise the managing and directing of the Tabernacle choir, instructing in vocal music in the L. D. S. University, and teaching a juvenile choir under the auspices of the Sabbath school. He is also director of music for the Y. M. M. I. A. |
Biographies 
