Virgil Thomson |

Virgil Thomson

He studied at Harvard University, then in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. During the Parisian period of his life, he became close with Gertrude Stein, later wrote two operas based on her libretto, which caused a lively reaction: Four Saints in Three Acts (eng. Four Saints in Three Acts; 1927-1928, staged 1934; and there are no actions in the opera three, and there are not four saints involved) and “Our Common Mother” (Eng. The Mother of Us All; 1947; based on the biography of Susan Brownell Anthony, one of the founders of the women’s movement in the United States). In 1939 he published The State of Music, which brought him considerable fame; it was followed by The Musical Scene (1945), The Art of Judging Music (1948) and Musical Right and Left (1951). ). In 1940-1954. Thomson was a music columnist for one of the most respected American newspapers, the New York Herald Tribune.

Thomson wrote music for motion pictures, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning film Louisiana Story (1948), and for theatrical productions, including Orson Welles’ production of Macbeth. The ballet to his music Filling Station was staged by William Christensen (1954). An interesting genre in which Thomson worked was “musical portraits” – small pieces that characterize his colleagues and acquaintances.

The circle that formed around Thomson included a number of prominent musicians of the next generation, including Leonard Bernstein, Paul Bowles, and Ned Rorem.