Virgil Thomson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1947

Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 - September 30, 1989) was an American composer from Missouri, whose rural background gave a sense of place in his compositions. He studied with Nadia Boulanger, and later 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 through 1954. Virgil Thomson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, June 4, 1947 From the collection of the Library of Congress and in the public domain: http://memory. ... Virgil Thomson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, June 4, 1947 From the collection of the Library of Congress and in the public domain: http://memory. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 92 days remaining, as the final day of September. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Missouri, named after the Missouri Siouan Indian tribe meaning canoe, is a Midwestern state in the United States with Jefferson City as its capital. ... Nadia Boulanger (September 16, 1887 – October 22, 1979) was an influential composer, conductor, and music professor. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of American finance, politics, music, and culture. ... Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900–December 2, 1990) was an American composer of modern tonal music as well as film music. ... The New York Herald Tribune was a newspaper created in 1922 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald. ...

In the 1930s, he worked as a theatre and film composer. His first film commission was The Plow That Broke the Plains, sponsored by the United States Resettlement Administration. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1949 with his film score for Louisiana Story. The Plow That Broke the Plains is a 1936 short documentary film which shows what happened to the Great Plains when uncontrolled plowing led to the Dust Bowl. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. ... Louisiana Story is a 1948 78-minute, black-and-white, American fiction film, which is often misidentified as a documentary film. ...

He worked with Gertrude Stein on the operas Four Saints in Three Acts and The Mother of Us All. Gertrude Stein was born in Pittsburgh on February 3, 1874 and passed on July 27, 1946 in Paris. ... The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera is an art form consisting of a dramatic stage performance set to music. ... Four Saints in Three Acts was an Opera by American composer Virgil Thomson and with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. ...

External link

• Virgil Thomson interview by Bruce Duffie

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Virgil Thomson