Music>SATB Choral
When David Heard
Dr. Ronald Staheli, more than any other conductor I have ever worked with, understands my music. He is that rare musician who discovers more music in the music than the composer even realized was there. So when I received the Barlow Commission to write a work for his amazing choir, I knew it had to be something special. The previous year Ron had recorded my Water Night, and his recording is, in my opinion, the quintessential performance of that piece. He seemed to find such powerful beauty in the rests, empty moments that became electric in his hands, so as I set out to write When David Heard I decided that my first and most principal musical motive would be silence.
The text, one single, devastating sentence, is from the King James Bible; II Samuel, 18:33:
When David heard that Absalom was slain he went up into his chamber over the gate and wept, my son, my son, O Absalom my son, would God I had died for thee!
Setting this text was such a lonely experience, and even now just writing these words I am moved to tears. I wrote maybe 200 pages of sketches, trying to find the perfect balance between sound and silence, always simplifying, and by the time I finished a year later I was profoundly changed. Older, I think, and quieted a little. I still have a hard time listening to the recording.
When David Heard was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for the Arts for the Brigham Young Singers, and is dedicated with love and silence to Dr. Ronald Staheli.
When David Heard received its premiere on March 26, 1999.
55 Comments
Preston Anderson on April 13, 2010 at 2:55 pm
man Mr.Whitacre your song when david heard is just beautiful. here it is 12:54 on a tuesday night and im up listening to this beautiful song. well done well done!!!!!!
Ian McDougal on January 24, 2011 at 1:04 am
I find the song is somehow even more effective in the middle of the night. :)
David DeLuca on April 16, 2010 at 9:15 am
This song moved me to tears. You have a wonderful gift. God bless you.
marissa on April 16, 2010 at 10:57 am
i am a freshman in highschool and my teacher playd this for us and it touched the whole class we have since improved greatly with the insperation this song and composer have givin us. it is songs like this that make me want to presue a degree in music i may only be 14 but Eric Whitacre constantly keeps me one that road.
Andrew Wood on April 23, 2010 at 5:07 am
Just wondering. would it be possible to transcribe 'When David Heard' to strings? I'd like to know hoe it sounds. espesially the big fat juicy chords.
Elliott on May 11, 2010 at 6:16 am
I'm on it.
Andrew Wood on May 12, 2010 at 9:12 am
Tell me when you do, i'd be eternally grateful.
James McRay on November 4, 2010 at 7:30 am
Are you sure that's a good idea? Dissonance sounds beautiful because it is sung.
Elliott on June 13, 2011 at 9:18 am
Dissonance can sound beautiful on strings too. :)
Anna Nieman on April 26, 2010 at 12:32 am
I have never had a piece of music touch me as powerfully or as deeply as this piece did. The building chords on "my son" pull at the corners of my heart in a way I, even as an experienced choral singer, have never felt before. This is now at the top of my bucket list of pieces to sing…over all things Mozart, Z Randall Stroope, John Rutter, etc. I would give up all the choral moments of my life for a chance to sing this song, especially with Eric Whitacre himself as the conductor. Music is supposed to be an experience, an invitation from the performers to the audience to come experience this emotion with them, not merely an entertainment, and that is exactly what this song captures. No one can sit in the audience and listen to this without experiencing it. No one with a heart at least. Music is a story, told with few words. This captures that perfectly. A single sentence that normally one would skim over is suddenly something that causes the heart to weep.
Inez Timberger on April 29, 2010 at 10:51 am
I love this song. My school's chamber choir did this song for a concert with you. It amazed me when I heard it. I truly love this song. Thank you for working with the Hudson Valley schools in New York. It was a great experience!
Ben on May 3, 2010 at 2:23 pm
I like this song because it feels like its driven by emotion.
Marc Leatham on May 4, 2010 at 2:34 pm
We've all felt the bitter darkness of crying ones self to sleep. It's never been a sought after experience for me, at least until I recognized those bitter sobs echoing in "When David Heard" For some divine reason, the song brought me down to those infrequently potent nights of exhaustion, screaming tears into my poor pillow. I was surprised however, when the song did not leave me there. It carried me as only a lullaby could, to resolved rest. Mr Whitacre, thank you for bottling this part of our souls. We can now cherish it for the defining moment it truly is.
Sharon Proctor on May 20, 2010 at 7:14 am
I sang this piece in NY with the Central City Chorus. I amost died, and went to heaven with Absalom. It is exquisite. The ebb & flow of grief in the music coupled with the silences is profound.
A Catholic priest in the audience was moved to tears in that CCC performance. I do the same every time I sing it to myself or play it from the CD.
Thank you, Eric.
Anika Goslen on June 15, 2010 at 11:35 am
This is absolutely beautiful. There are so many emotions in that one sentence and its amazing how perfectly this piece pulls them all together from the silences to the building on the word "son" to the chant-like cadence of the basses that reflect the army that wrongfully killed Absolom as well as the realization that David comes to that he would have rather died in his stead. The piece is so hauntingly beautiful. I feel as though this is exactly how David must have wept over his child.
Simone on June 17, 2010 at 8:59 am
I heard this performed by the Vlaams Radio Koor about 5 months ago here in Brussels (at Studio 5, Flagey), but only just found your website and thus am listening to it again for the first time, as it were. I was moved to tears by the live performance, and am surprised to find myself once again so moved even at a recording. Having just finished a strenuous rehearsal for a concert next week, perhaps this reaction should be expected, but I find it wonderfully, sorrowfully surprising. Regardless, it's beautifully emotive music…
Jean Martin on June 20, 2010 at 3:18 am
You have turned this 70yr old into an addict, Eric. I am totally hooked on choral music after listening to your magnificent work. Deeply and profoundly soul stirring this is, so it is! Life enhancing too, so it is!
Logan Rutledge on June 22, 2010 at 5:10 am
So, I'm pretty sure this is my favorite piece of yours, I love them all. I'm a little afraid for where my music education is taking me, I feel that I'm becoming too robotic, when I always tell myself that is when music becomes dead. I say this because when the tenor comes in at about 2 minutes in, I went,"That's really sharp." How could I recognize that and be submersed in the beauty of the sounds being risen off the page? I don't understand…
Sam Kreitzer on June 28, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Wow, what a beautifully written piece of music. You took a simple passage from the Bible and painted a picture of the scene. While listening to this song I can picture in my mind David crying his soul out to God over the death of his son. I can imagine how hard it must have been to put that kind of emotionally straining event for David into music. Congratulations, Mr. Whitacre; you did it!
Javier Martin on July 3, 2010 at 10:45 am
i cant help but cry every time i hear this. There have been moments when i have started to weep and shake. Thank you again Eric. <3
Jesse VanDenKooy on July 31, 2010 at 4:47 pm
This is by far the most moving and powerful pieces of music I have ever heard. It truly (beyond all others) produces a religious and almost supernatural revelation to the way we perceive sound into emotion. Every silence casts a weighty load on the listener and purifies them of thought, preparing their unknowing ears to be vulnerable to the awesome and absolute profundity of the line, and to it's related emotion.
Thank you for this music, the world needs it.
I am humbled as human.
Joe on August 11, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I've been soaking in this work for about a year now. The last 2 minutes of this piece are almost too much for a man's soul to take. My eyes fill up and I have to close them and sit quietly until I recover. What an accurate yet reverent depiction of a father's agony. This music is truly a treasure of Western civilization, as is its composer.
Jenn on August 27, 2010 at 6:36 am
I've been a fan of yours since high school (band nerd, woohoo) but I never really liked choral music until about 3 years ago. It's now what I listen to the vast majority of the time. I sing whenever I'm alone (no confidence to sing for others!) and find that it relaxes me more than anything else in the world.
As I type this, I'm listening to When David Heard for the first time. I have goosebumps, it's simply amazing. I have a feeling I will be on the site for a while listening to everything.
Alejandro Bonfil on September 2, 2010 at 12:31 pm
You, truly, an inspiring man, Mr. Whitacre. I am a young composer wanting to eventually be known for my choral works. Its not easy. I have always liked your style, and was always in love with your harmonies. Listening to your music makes me want to pull out some staff paper and write for hours. I think you are my biggest idol. I would love to do what you do when I am older. You live my dream, Mr. Whitacre. I'll always be a fan (one of millions)
Devin Lorenz on September 13, 2010 at 10:40 am
I have my Light and Gold pre-ordered! Ill this song be on it? I know there was a bit of a discrepancy with Seal Lulaby, and I sure wouldn't mind if there was another one here. I can't wait to get the CD; you are definitely the master of your style, Mr. Whitacre. I look forward to hearing your works for a long time. God bless.
Ashley L. on November 3, 2010 at 5:04 am
Hey…I know you :)
I really there will be a piano book for this music someday
Belinda on September 24, 2010 at 9:20 pm
I've had the privilege to sing When David Heard in a workshop with Robert Hollingworth.
'My son, my son, my son….'
9 years ago I so nearly lost my son, and for a little while I lived as though I had, a sort of living grief. But singing, and sobbing my way through this cathartic music released something and cleansed me. Reliving the loss in your music, it was so painful, and it went deep; it so expressed what both my sons mean to me, and the gratitude I feel that I have them both, still. And I could make it a celebration life, of parenthood and connectedness. My son!
I hope you haven't felt such loss, yet the miracle is you can express it so powerfully.
Thank you Eric.
Eric on September 24, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Belinda,
I was so moved by your post. I'm so grateful that you didn't lose your son, and I'm so sorry you had to live through what must have been a life-changing time. Thank you so much for sharing this with me.
Warmest regards,
Eric
David Johnson on September 26, 2010 at 5:44 pm
So to date, I have enjoyed all your music, and I have learned and performed Bass or Tenor parts for a number of them (Lux Arumbque, Leonardo Dreams … , and Cloudburst, and I'm learning Sleep for the Virt Ch. .
I have wandered through the Five Hebrew Love Songs, marveled at Paradise Lost, and loved the wonderful simplicity of the Seal Lullaby, as my daughter learns it for her choir. I have listened to it all … almost.
Tonight, Being a bit bored I opened and listened to When David Heard, boredom was replaced with shock and awe, and I was driven into an emotional place beside you and the group that recorded it here.
I was first astonished at the skill of the performers, then dragged into the power of the quiet of the piece. I was slowly brought to tears. My son, my son, my son.
The piece ended, and I sat transfixed … staring at the monitor. I got up … walked around … dried my eyes, sat back down and played it again. and read your pained words from the L.A. Masters Chorale show. I am moved, I thought I was beginning to understand choral music, I am but a babe. I used to think that it was all just music, something to listen to and perform … I never expected to feel such things directly from a tune, only life itself can evoke emotions so powerful.
As I listened to it I was reminded of moments in my 45 years where I had experienced real loss, and those moments again came alive and reinforced in me, why I am … who I am. It rekindled adversity, hurt and pain. Here I sit, 30 min later recomposed, but spent, and appreciative.
I don't think I could perform that, its just too much, if you did a virt ch with it (unlikely) I would pass. I have no right. Now I go hold my children.
Eric on September 27, 2010 at 2:48 am
David, thank you so much for your gracious and heartfelt post. I was so deeply moved by your words.
Jordan Bearden on September 29, 2010 at 11:10 am
Never in all my life have I heard such pure emotion and grief with any piece of music. I may only be 18 years old, but I have lived through the pain of losing someone you love. The assistant director of music at my church passed away about a year ago, and the whole church was heavily impacted. He was not only a magnificent pianist and baritone singer, but he was a friend to everyone he came into contact with. I once got the privilege to play piano for him, and it was a moment that I will never forget. This piece remindes me of the sorrow that filled my heart and soul when I learned that I would never see that man again. It makes me feel such pain for those who have suffered like David did. I have never felt more moved by any other piece of music before I heard this work of art. It's truly a blessing to hear your music Mr. Whitacre. Thank you for showing us all such beauty and wonder.
Patton Rice on October 2, 2010 at 7:21 am
Hi Eric,
I've been listening to each new offering with great anticipation and my students ( I teach all the music classes at the Mississippi School of the Arts) are intensely dedicated fans as well. I have to say that this work, more than any of your others, has a profound affect each time I hear it. I lost my mother after a long bought with alzheimers this past year and for some reason I find this setting the most perfect musical expression of grief known to me. I don't know how you got there, but your use of the silences is what speaks to me so deeply and goes to that place in my soul that only music can reach. All I can say is those 200 pages paid off!
I will try to make a trip sometime this season to catch a concert where you are conducting to thank you for the incredible gift you have presented to all of us with your music. I'd also love to congratulate you personally for your extraordinary and well deserved success. Little did I know those many years ago at UNLV that all your fun and creative energy would result in such a gift to the world.
Bravo and Thank you!
Aubrey on October 7, 2010 at 9:31 am
I heard this piece many years ago. It made me feel something that, at the time, I could not describe. When I first heard this piece, I couldn't keep myself from crying. I have always been an empathetic person, but this song did something to me that I couldn't even understand. Since that time, I experienced a great loss in my life, akin to the one portrayed in this piece. I now understand what this song made me feel that first day I heard it. My faith is the most important thing in my life to me. When I was dealing with the loss of a dear friend, I had moments in my life when all I could do was cry out, an intelligible cry from the spirit. Only God could understand what those sounds meant. When I listen to this song now, it reminds me of those moments when I would cry out and something inside me would tell me that God could hear me, that He did understand, that I was not alone. I believe God has truly blessed you with an incredible gift. This song gave me hope and strength and faith in a time when I felt I had nothing left. That is an incredible thing to do for someone. I hope and pray that, if ever you need it, someone somewhere will give you the hope, strength, and faith in a time of darkness that you gave me.
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen on October 11, 2010 at 6:00 am
As I sit here listening to this piece right now, I am crying. Mr. Whitacre, your music has a power unlike anything I've ever heard or seen before. Your music has changed my life and convinced me to commit my life to music. My school's Senior Chorus performed i thank you god for most this amazing day last year at Lincoln Center to rave reviews, and we will be performing this piece later this year and I cannot wait! The lead up to and the chord at 1:49 has shown me God in a way I've never seen God before.
Thank you.
Spencer Bell on October 24, 2010 at 3:15 pm
In my music theory we are studying whole tone scales and I suggested this song as an example of this technique being used perfectly.
I wonder if Whitacre has been influenced by Tormis?
Erin Hoensch on October 26, 2010 at 2:41 pm
This is the song I play when I'm at my darkest, each time it has picked me up and made things clearer. Thank you so much for creating this wonderful piece of music. I don't know where I'd be in life without your creations, Eric Whitacre.
Jeanna Wilkes on October 29, 2010 at 9:54 am
Dear Eric,
Thank you so much for such a passionate piece. It only helps me glimpse what my father felt emotionally when my older brother passed away. Thank You.
Jeanna Dacey Wilkes
Junior, Delta State University, under the Direction of Dr. Richard Waters.
Willard14 on December 3, 2010 at 2:11 am
i've listened to this piece so often and have been so often lost in the beauty of the music that i thought i knew the music very well. however after reading what you wrote above, i am now utterly moved by the silence. listening to the silence of the piece has intensified it to the highest level. it may have brought me to tears before, but now tears don't even begin to cover the emotion that is flowing through me. the silence brings the full meaning to bear. i've read this verse (II Samuel, 18:33) many many times in my life and yet never quite understood it. your music brings it to life and makes the listener LIVE this moment.. a moment of pain, loss, sorrow, anguish.
thank-you for your hard work
Kelly Jones on December 3, 2010 at 1:54 pm
I love this song because it sounds exactly like weeping. Those long, silent moments when you can hardly take breath, and then all in one, heaving motion you are sobbing with your entire body. That is what this song is, and it fills me with so much unbearable emotion…I adore it.
Francis on December 9, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Disclaimer: This might sound corny. A lot.
Mr. Whitacre, as many people have stated, your music brings me to tears sometimes. I find you to be an inspiration for me, an aspiring composer (hopeful to major in composition in college). Your pieces truly have the ability to not only let my tears flow, but listening to it feels like a spiritual thing. Simply listening to this music is, to me, like praying without words. It's deeper, more meaningful than anything I could ever say to God. I just let it wash over me.
It is my dream to be able to write pieces with the amazing emotion and power you funnel into yours. I plan on writing more music, and once I have something I think worthy of, well, anything, I will send it to you, in hopes that you spare it a moment to critique. r even just listen to.
Thank you for allowing me to escape this world and glimpse the next. Your music not only gives me inspiration and emotion, but hope.
Claudia on December 30, 2010 at 12:03 pm
At 1:00 this morning, I turned out all the lights in my room and listened to this song as loud as my iPod would allow me, in complete darkness and silence. I whimpered, gasped, stiffened, cried.
Gabe Ellis on January 27, 2011 at 6:35 am
This piece is absolutely incredible. I'm playing Noisy Wheels of Joy in my high school wind ensemble, so I came to the website to have a look. What I've found has blown me away. I also wondered if anybody had read the book "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card, because that Bible verse is used toward the end of the book in a very touching scene.
Andrew on February 14, 2011 at 11:34 am
Eric, I don't normally post comments, but having conducted quite a few of your pieces, I really did want to put some thoughts down. When David Heard I've directed in concerts three times now. The first time we did it, I brought the piece in, said a few words about it, and we started rehearsing. The choir were won over by the end of the first phrase. I remember one of the altos breaking down, being unable to sing. I remember one of the basses faltering on that unison A in the bass line just before the opening phrase recaps, unable to keep focus. I remember one of the baritones lose his composure singing the C in that Bb chord right before the tenor solo. Myself, I've also had moments where I've had to rein it in, and just keep leading. I love this piece, it's been so rewarding working on it. I hear that first A minor harmony and the whole piece is there in that chord. At first I thought that the middle section of the work was a little too long, but now I can see that the structure is perfect- indeed, I now don't think about structure anymore, I think about the various aspects and stages of grief- that this piece explores in such a powerful way. So, I thank you for When David Heard. Looking forward to doing Cloudburst later in the year.
Greg on February 14, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Dear Eric…from around about the nine minute mark into the piece and then over the next two to three minutes is some of the most intense, anguished, painful, soul searing, I don't know, just devastating choral singing I've ever heard or experienced in my life. It's almost unbearably heart wrenching and yet stunningly beautiful all at once. Really, it's almost indescribable. Thank you for this amazing work. The choir is amazing. For all that I've said, this performance is really beyond words.
Nate Castro on March 29, 2011 at 3:07 pm
I am a senior in high school and joined choir last year and have played violin for eight years. Many humans go through emotions day by day. I believe music to be something to express these emotions and it is songs as these that call out to my heart and let me know that I am not alone. The first time I heard this, I had chills and teared up. The first my son, my son section built up into a blindingly painful chord and as the tenor voices emerged, something in my heart broke and I felt the tenors to be the voice of David crying out against suppressing his grief. The middle section is hauntingly beautiful and mesmerizes me as David is dealing with all of the turmoil that one feels when losing someone. I love how music carries on like this and how the silence allows for the listener to look inward and interpret their own personal feelings. The rececitive section paints dim images of David as he hears of this news and quietly seeks refuge to his chamber. I love the elivating chord of "he went up". I have absolutely no problem at all with this piece, it is absolutley perfect in every way. The length is just right and it allows for those that need to get out what they need out the chance to do so. The fact that you have the gift to convey such powerful emotion in a piece is remarkable and this piece has become my favorite choral work since I joined choir. I would just like to let you know that your work has inspired me to compose as I work over chords on the piano every day. In my life, I absolutley need music daily to help remind me what emotion feels like and I believe this piece to be my favorite simply because of how it digs into my mind and pulls out the sounds I have heard at night crying. This song heals me in the sense that I am not alone and the ending part carries in my heart. Once someone experiences something like this, it becomes part of them. I hope to get the chance to experience this piece as I go to Northern Arizona University. Thank you for your music, Eric Whitacre.
Joshua Joseph on April 12, 2011 at 11:30 pm
Dear Mr. Whitacre,
This is Joshua Joseph, the Indian boy who never got his question answered at La Guardia High School because of the darn bell ( AND YOU PROMISED to answer it through this blog…haha. )Why did you start composing music and what has drawn you to do primarily choral work?
Also, I just wanted to let you know that your music has overall been a way for me to cope with my problems THESE LAST TWO years and to look at life at a brighter perspective. Thank you so much for ultimately changing my life. When David Heard and i thank you god for most this amazing day especially touched my heart in a way that has never been touched before. So thank you.
Andrada on April 16, 2011 at 5:28 am
Mr Whitacre,
I listened to your song for the first time in my voice class when my teacher played it for us and couldn't hold back tears. I was amazed by your capability to capture such strong emotions whithin a song. It has inspired me to work harder in my choral and vocal technique. My ultimate goal is to one day sing this beautiful song.
Thank very much for writing this. Your work is brilliant!
Caitlin on May 11, 2011 at 4:59 pm
I have a feeling if I ever sang this I wouldn’t be able to keep going, I would just be crying on stage…
Marc on July 26, 2011 at 3:21 am
I get so emotional when listening to this piece. I can’t imagine what it will be like when I have a son of my own.
Jon Handy on October 26, 2011 at 7:11 pm
Truly the quintessence of musical excellence.
Megan on November 2, 2011 at 5:17 pm
Dear Mr. Whitacre
Your works have brought so much joy to my life and I thank you so much for that. This song moved me to tears right from the beginning and I sat listening in awe, tears rolling down my cheeks. You have the ability to bring simple, straightforward poems and texts to life with your music and they speak to everybody who listens.
Thank you so much for being the best composer you can be!
Megan Thomas
South Africa
Trevor Kaminski on November 21, 2011 at 2:08 am
You balance silence and raw emotion in this work perfectly. I don’t know how you do it. You are a magician with music. That Ab-sa-lom chord in the beginning speaks volumes. I loose it during the “My son, My son, Oh My Son” part.
Doug Mumford on December 12, 2011 at 7:48 am
The greatest musical experience I’ve ever had was hearing the BYU Singers perform this piece in 2001. It was performed in the middle of the concert, and by the end of the piece several members of the choir (the same members that recorded the version played here) were in tears as they finished. The crowed gave a standing ovation in the middle of the concert, which I’ve never seen happen again, and the applause went on for probably close to 2-3 minutes, with the choir taking five or six bows. One of those musical experiences that only happens a few times in one’s lifetime. Simply amazing. This is still my favorite piece of all time.
Andrew B. on January 11, 2012 at 5:17 am
I love this piece incredibly, and want to see it properly justified, so I was wondering if anyone could elucidate the rather messy biblical context? David’s grief strikes me as very improper in the actual story.
Celia Tow on January 21, 2012 at 7:33 pm
I sat down to listen to this piece after reading the comments, knowing that it would be an experience, to say the least. This piece is absolutely incredible; not only the chords but how you use the chords to convey such a powerful, terrible emotion. I found myself in tears after a few minutes. Never has a piece of music made me cry before. I expected I’d be able to get through it, but somehow I just couldn’t, and I didn’t really know why at first. And the silence, oh my God. The profound silence. Stunning.