Thomas Tomkins’ “When David Heard"

Throughout September, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates the music of 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century England.


https://youtu.be/eEkx_q4eqoU

Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656) was born in Wales. His father was a vicar choral and organist at St David’s Cathedral. When Tomkins was still quite young, the family moved to Gloucester, where Tomkins may have studied with William Byrd. Tomkins became a chorister in the Chapel Royal, and later studied for his BMus at Magdalen College, Oxford. He spent many years as organist of Worcester Cathedral.

Tomkins was a highly respected composer of madrigals, keyboard music, and lute songs, as well as anthems and many other sacred choral works. Peter Phillips says, “Tomkins . . . was an early example of that well-known phenomenon which has characterised the careers of some of the greatest British composers. They all made a significant contribution to the music of their time, but did so in a style which, when they came to take it up, had been thoroughly explored and discarded elsewhere in Europe. . . . His technique as a contra-puntalist was second to none . . . When David heard has long been recognised as one of the supreme examples of late renaissance composition, a highly expressive blend of polyphony and more harmonic writing, of dissonance leading to consonance as David seems at last to come to accept the reality of his position.”

My classical music post for today is Thomas Tomkins’ “When David Heard."

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