Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson was a many-faceted American composer of great originality and a music critic of singular brilliance. Born in Kansas City, Missouri on November 25, 1896, Thomson studied at Harvard University. After a prolonged period in Paris where he studied with Nadia Boulanger and met Cocteau, Stravinsky, Satie, and the artists of Les Six, he returned to the United States where he was chief music critic for the New York Herald Tribune.

Virgil Thomson composed in almost every genre of music. Utilizing a musical style marked by sharp wit and overt playfulness, Thomson produced a highly original body of work rooted in American speech rhythms and hymnbook harmony. His music was most influenced by Satie's ideals of clarity, simplicity, irony, and humor. Among his most famous works are the operas Four Saints in Three Acts and The Mother of Us All (both with texts by Gertrude Stein with whom he formed a legendary artistic collaboration); and scores to The Plow That Broke the Plains and The River (films by Pare Lorentz), as well as Louisiana Story (film by Robert Flaherty). In addition to his compositions, he was the author of eight books, including an autobiography.