I found a variety settings of\u00a0\u201cWhen David Heard\u201d from across time to be very useful in my class on the Bible and music. On the one hand, the text itself is interesting, and the choice to set it (sometimes in relation to historical circumstances that make it seem relevant) illuminates the interplay between ancient text and later composers and their historical context. On the other hand, the comparison allowed me to address the question of why older music often sounds boring to listeners today. The simple fact is that our ears become accustomed to certain sounds, so that things which once sounded innovative and fresh come to sound archaic and old hat. If this is true with music from the 1950s, how much more so will it be true of music from the 1650s?<\/p>\n
And so I shared Thomas Tomkins\u2019 setting, which sounds a lot like any other music of its time to most modern listeners, especially on a first hearing. The harmonic language is clearly that of a bygone era, even if we can recognize the composer\u2019s skill.<\/p>\n