Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson (1896–1989) was an American composer and music critic whose works joined modernist techniques with plainspoken American subjects and styles.

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Neoclassicism: A modernist movement that adapted forms and clarity associated with earlier European music. Thomson’s Paris-era aesthetic favored clear forms and restraint over late-Romantic excess.
Four Saints in Three Acts: An opera by Thomson with a libretto by Gertrude Stein, first performed in 1934. Its all-Black cast and unconventional staging made it a landmark of Thomson’s theatrical work.
Gertrude Stein: An American writer and modernist whose experimental prose reshaped twentieth-century literature. Stein wrote the librettos for Thomson’s two most celebrated operas.
Music criticism: The analysis and evaluation of music in journalism, scholarship, and public commentary. Thomson’s long career as a critic made his judgments part of his cultural influence.
American modernism: A movement in the arts that developed modernist approaches in response to American subjects and culture. Thomson helped define a specifically American musical modernism.
The Mother of Us All: A 1947 opera by Thomson and Gertrude Stein about suffragist Susan B. Anthony. It turns the life of a reformer into a deliberately stylized American opera.
Robert Flaherty: An American filmmaker known for documentary works including Nanook of the North and Louisiana Story. Flaherty directed Louisiana Story, whose score Thomson composed.
Pulitzer Prize for Music: An annual American award recognizing distinguished musical composition. Thomson won the 1949 prize for his score to Louisiana Story.
Parody music: Music that imitates or transforms recognizable styles, often for comic or critical effect. Thomson used stylized imitation to make historical and popular idioms part of his musical language.
The Plow That Broke the Plains: A 1936 documentary film about the Great Plains, with a score by Thomson. The score helped establish Thomson’s reputation for music shaped around documentary images.