Occupation Composer, critic Name Virgil Thomson | Role Composer Movies 145 W. 21 | |
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Born November 25, 1896 ( 1896-11-25 ) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. Died September 30, 1989, New York City, New York, United States Awards Kennedy Center Honors, Pulitzer Prize for Music Compositions Four Saints in Three Acts, Four Saints in Three Acts, The Mother of Us All, The Mother of Us All, Lord Byron, Lord Byron, Louisiana Story, Louisiana Story, Pastorale on a Christmas Plainsong, Pastorale on a Christmas Plainsong, Ragtime Bass in C-sharp, Ragtime Bass in C-sharp, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: IV Blues, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: IV Blues, Praises and Prayers: No 4 Before Sleeping, Praises and Prayers: No 4 Before Sleeping, Symphony no 2 in C major: III Allegro, Symphony no 2 in C major: III Allegro, Symphony on a Hymn Tune: II Andante cantabile, Symphony on a Hymn Tune: II Andante cantabile, Suite from "The River": I The Old South, Suite from "The River": I The Old South, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: I Prelude with Fugal Exposition, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: I Prelude with Fugal Exposition, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: VI Devastation, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: VI Devastation, Suite from "The River": II Industrial Expansion in the Mississippi Valley, Suite from "The River": II Industrial Expansion in the Mississippi Valley, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: IV Fugue no 2, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: IV Fugue no 2, Louisiana Story Suite: III Passacaglia Robbing the alligator's nest, Louisiana Story Suite: III Passacaglia Robbing the alligator's nest, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: VI Finale, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: VI Finale, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: II Grass Pastorale, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: II Grass Pastorale, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: III A Narrative, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: III A Narrative, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: I Prelude Prologue, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: I Prelude Prologue, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: III Cattle, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: III Cattle, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: V Joyous Pastorale, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: V Joyous Pastorale, Louisiana Story Suite: II Chorale The derrick arrives, Louisiana Story Suite: II Chorale The derrick arrives, Symphony no 2 in C major: II Andante, Symphony no 2 in C major: II Andante, Sonata for Flute Alone: II Adagio, Sonata for Flute Alone: II Adagio, Suite from "The River": III Soil Erosion and Floods, Suite from "The River": III Soil Erosion and Floods, Symphony no 3: IV Allegretto, Symphony no 3: IV Allegretto, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: VI Walking Song, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: VI Walking Song, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: I Sadness, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: I Sadness, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: V Super-sadness, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: V Super-sadness, Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred, Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred, Symphony on a Hymn Tune: III Allegretto, Symphony on a Hymn Tune: III Allegretto, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: II Fugue no 1, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: II Fugue no 1, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: V Drought, The Plow that Broke the Plains Suite: V Drought, Symphony no 2 in C major: I Allegro militaire, Symphony no 2 in C major: I Allegro militaire, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: IV The alligator and the 'coon, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: IV The alligator and the 'coon, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: II Papa's Tune, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: II Papa's Tune, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: VII The Squeeze Box, Lousiana Story - Acadian Songs and Dances: VII The Squeeze Box, Sonata for Flute Alone: I Adagio - Allegro, Sonata for Flute Alone: I Adagio - Allegro, Symphony on a Hymn Tune: I Introduction and Allegro, Symphony on a Hymn Tune: I Introduction and Allegro, Symphony no 3: II Tempo di Valzer, Symphony no 3: II Tempo di Valzer, Sonata for Flute Alone: III Vivace, Sonata for Flute Alone: III Vivace, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: III Ruins and Jungles, Power Among Men - Fugues and Cantilenas: III Ruins and Jungles, Suite from "The River": IV Finale, Suite from "The River": IV Finale, Louisiana Story Suite: I Pastoral The bayou and the marsh buggy, Louisiana Story Suite: I Pastoral The bayou and the marsh buggy, Symphony no 3: III Adagio sostenuto, Symphony no 3: III Adagio sostenuto, Pilgrims and Pioneers, Pilgrims and Pioneers, Symphony on a Hymn Tune: IV Alla breve, Symphony on a Hymn Tune: IV Alla breve, Louisiana Story Suite: IV Fugue Boy fights alligator, Louisiana Story Suite: IV Fugue Boy fights alligator, Symphony no 3: I Allegro moderato, Symphony no 3: I Allegro moderato, Praises and Prayers: No 2 My Master Hath a Garden, Praises and Prayers: No 2 My Master Hath a Garden Similar People Gertrude Stein, Aaron Copland, Eugene Ormandy, Samuel Barber, Jack Larson | ||
Day at night virgil thomson composer
Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassicist, and a composer of "an Olympian blend of humanity and detachment" whose "expressive voice was always carefully muted" until his late opera Lord Byron which, in contrast to all his previous work, exhibited an emotional content that rises to "moments of real passion".
Contents
- Day at night virgil thomson composer
- Virgil thomson concert taping for pbs
- Early years
- Later years
- Awards and honors
- Death
- References
Virgil thomson concert taping for pbs
Early years
Virgil Thomson was born in Kansas City, Missouri. As a child, he befriended Alice Smith, great-granddaughter of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter-day Saint movement. After World War I, he entered Harvard University thanks to a loan from Dr. Fred M. Smith, the president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and father of Alice Smith. His tours of Europe with the Harvard Glee Club helped nurture his desire to return there. At Harvard, Thomson focused his studies on the piano work of Erik Satie. He studied in Paris on fellowship for a year, and after graduating, lived in Paris from 1925 until 1940. He eventually studied with Nadia Boulanger and became a fixture of "Paris in the twenties."
In 1925, in Paris, he cemented a relationship with painter Maurice Grosser (October 23, 1903 - December 22, 1986), who was to become his life partner and frequent collaborator. Later he and Grosser lived at the Hotel Chelsea, where he presided over a largely gay salon that attracted many of the leading figures in music and art and theater, including Leonard Bernstein, Tennessee Williams, and many others. He also encouraged many younger composers and literary figures such as Ned Rorem, Lou Harrison, John Cage, Frank O'Hara, and Paul Bowles. Grosser died in 1986, three years before Thomson.
His most important friend from this period was Gertrude Stein, who was an artistic collaborator and mentor to him. Following the publication of his book, The State of Music, he established himself in New York City as a peer of Aaron Copland, and was also a music critic for the New York Herald-Tribune from 1940 to 1954.
His writings on music, and his reviews of performances in particular, are noted for their wit and their independent judgments. His definition of music was famously "that which musicians do," and his views on music are radical in their insistence on reducing the rarefied aesthetics of music to market activity. He even went so far as to claim that the style a piece was written in could be most effectively understood as a consequence of its income source.
Later years
In 1969, Thompson composed Metropolitan Museum Fanfare: Portrait Of An American Artist to accompany the Museum's Centennial exhibition "New York Painting And Sculpture: 1940–1970."
Thomson became a sort of mentor and father figure to a new generation of American tonal composers such as Ned Rorem, Paul Bowles and Leonard Bernstein, a circle united as much by their shared homosexuality as by their similar compositional sensibilities. Women composers were not part of that circle, and some have suggested that, as a critic, he pointedly ignored their works, or adopted a patronizing tone.
Thomson's score for The River was used in the 1983 ABC made-for-television movie The Day After. Thomson's personal papers are in a repository at the Archival Papers in the Music Library of Yale University and also additional effects regarding Thomson are included in the Ian Hornak repository at the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art in Washington D.C.
Awards and honors
Thomson was a recipient of Yale University's Sanford Medal. In 1988, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.
Death
Virgil Thomson died on September 30, 1989, in his suite at the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan, aged 92.