Virgil Thomson

A Voice for America Virgil Thomson, an elegant and improbable synthesis of boulevardier sophistication, churchy consonance, and Midwestern plain speaking, celebrates his 90th birthday this month.

BY TIM PAGE
6 NOVEMBER 1986 / WNYC PROGRAM GUIDE
The term "living legend" is by now devalued and overused, but it applies perfectly to Virgil Thomson. He is from that vital generation of American composers who finally gave our land its own distinct voice. For many years an "American in Paris," he was a friend and collaborator of Gertrude Stein, and an acquaintance of Joyce, Pound, and a host of lesser lights. He is probably the last living representative of what has been called (to Thomson's dismay) "the lost generation." He was the most acute and penetrating of all American music critics. And of course, he has given the world some extraordinary music, music which has been a staple of WNYC's programming through the years, and which will be heard all day on November 25, along with interviews with Mr. Thomson and a coterie of "friends and enemies" of modern music. Today, Thomson lives, as he has for most of the past half-century, in a suite high in the Chelsea Hotel. The rooms, cluttered yet meticulously ordered, are decorated with Modernist paintings and first editions, many by friends. A grand piano sits in a corner; the view spans to the World Trade Center. A visitor cannot help but reflect upon the extraordinary array of composers, authors, and celebrated personages who have passed through the apartment since 1940""many of them captured in Thomson's "musical portraits," which he continues to sketch from life.

Thomson was born in Kansas City, Missouri on November 25, 1896. He began to play the piano at the age of five. Later he served as the organist in the Calvary Baptist Church in Kansas City. Despite his worldliness and education""at Harvard, in New York, and with legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger in France""the simple hymn tunes of the 19th century are never far from the surface in Thomson's music. This is not to say that he has plagiarized this material" although he has provided variations on a variety of hymns "only that this early training has nourished much of his later work.

From 1925 until 1940, Thomson lived mainly in Paris. In 1926 he met Gertrude Stein, with whom he rote two operas""Four Saints in Three Acts (1934) and The Mother of Us All (1947)""which are considered among America's finest and most original, riis third opera, Lord Byron (1972) to a text by Jack Larson, has not yet found popular acclaim, but it is a work very close to Thomson's heart and will be awarded a prominent time in the programming on November 25. Other important works include many portraits for piano and other instruments, chamber works of scope and variety, symphonies, choral works, and concertos.

From 1940 to 1954, Thomson was the music critic for the New York Herald Tribune, where he set new standards for sophistication and clarity. Many of his articles were later collected in A Virgil Thomson Reader. Other books include American Music Since 1910 and Virgil Thomson by Virgil Thomson. I would urge admirers of Thomson's music to investigate his literary work as well; it is equally well made, equally direct and, often, equally moving. One sign of a civilization's cultural maturity is the ability to honor great artists while they are still in our midst. In Virgil Thomson, Americans have much to be proud of, and he richly deserves every tribute he will receive this November.

Tim Page hosts FM/94's New, Old &Unexpected and is also a music critic for The New York Times. Virgil Thomson: A Celebration In recognition of Virgil Thomson, a composer whose musical and critical presence has enriched and informed our world for most of a century,

WNYC archives id: 53561