Virgil thompson biography

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) was a many-faceted American composer of great originality and a music critic of singular brilliance.

Virgil Thomson (November 25, – September 30, ) was an American composer and critic.

Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic.

Medium Biography .

Virgil Thomson () was a many-faceted American composer of great originality and a music critic of singular brilliance.

American composer, conductor, and music critic whose forward-looking ideas stimulated new lines of thought among contemporary musicians.

Utilizing a musical style marked by sharp wit and overt playfulness, he composed in almost every genre of music, producing a highly original body of work rooted in American speech rhythms and hymnbook harmony. His music was influenced by Satie’s ideals of clarity, simplicity, irony, and humor.

Though mostly diatonic and tonal in feeling, some of his work was densely chromatic (Three Tone Poems) and even 12-tone in organization (A Solemn Music).

Born in Kansas City, Missouri on November 25, 1896, Thomson was imbued with a strong sense of place—of rootedness in heartland America and its Protestant traditions.

His early connection to music came through the church, through piano lessons beginning at age 5, and stints accompanying theatricals and silent films. The music he heard was part and parcel of the wide world around him: C