Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson trained first as a pianist and organist, then studied composition at Harvard University and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris * After working as an organist in Boston he settled in Paris (1925-40) * Influenced by Les Six, Eric Satie and Stravinsky * Music is characterised by clarity, irony and playful invention * Met Gertrude Stein, with whom he collaborated on an innovative series of stageworks * Drew wide inspiration from hymn tunes, cowboy songs, baroque fugues, tangos and parlour waltzes * Music ranges in harmonic idiom from simple tonality to the occasional example of complex serial writing * He returned to USA and was chief music critic of New York Herald Tribune (1940-54) * Influential in charting development of first generations of internationally acclaimed American composers
Works by Virgil Thomson include:
Sonata da Chiesa(1926) for instrumental quintet
Stabat Mater (1931) for soprano and strings
Filling Station (1937) Ballet
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (1958) for chorus and orchestra