Editing Virgil Thomson (section)

==Biography==

===Early years===
Thomson was born in [[Kansas City, Missouri]]. As a child he befriended Alice Smith, great-granddaughter of [[Joseph Smith]], founder of the [[Latter-day Saint movement]]. During his youth he often played the organ in Grace Church, (now [[Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral (Kansas City, Missouri)|Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral]]), as his piano teacher was the church's organist. After World War I, he entered [[Harvard University]] thanks to a loan from Dr. [[Frederick M. Smith|Fred M. Smith]], the president of the [[Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]], and father of Alice Smith. His tours of Europe with the [[Harvard Glee Club]] helped nurture his desire to return there.

At Harvard, Thomson focused his studies on the piano work of [[Erik Satie]]. He studied in Paris on fellowship for a year, and after graduating lived in Paris from 1925 until 1940. While studying in Paris he was influenced by several French composers who were members of "[[Les Six]]" including: [[Darius Milhaud]], [[Francis Poulenc]], [[Arthur Honegger]], [[Georges Auric]], and [[Germaine Tailleferre]].<ref name=Lamkin>{{cite book|author=Michael Lamkin|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8W2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA631|title=Encyclopedia of Music in the 20th Century|editor1=Lee Stacey|editor2=Lol Henderson|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=2013|page=631|chapter=Virgil Thomson|isbn=9781135929466}}</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virgil-Thomson "Virgil Thomson"], ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''</ref> He eventually studied with [[Nadia Boulanger]] and became a fixture of "Paris in the twenties".<ref name=Lamkin />

[[File:Maurice Grosser, 1935.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Maurice Grosser]] in 1935]]

In Paris in 1925, he cemented a relationship with painter [[Maurice Grosser]], who was to become his life partner and frequent collaborator. Later he and Grosser lived at the [[Hotel Chelsea]], where he presided over a largely gay salon that attracted many of the leading figures in music and art and theater, including [[Leonard Bernstein]], [[Tennessee Williams]], and many others. He also encouraged many younger composers and literary figures such as [[Theodor Adorno]], [[Ned Rorem]], [[Lou Harrison]], [[John Cage]], [[Frank O'Hara]], and [[Paul Bowles]]. Grosser died in 1986, three years before Thomson.<ref>Patricia Juliana Smith (2002), [http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/thomson_v_A.pdf "Virgil Thomson"], glbtqarchive.com</ref>

[[File:Gertrude stein.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.7|[[Gertrude Stein]] in 1934, photograph by [[Carl Van Vechten]]]]

His most important friend from this period was [[Gertrude Stein]], who was an artistic collaborator and mentor to him. After meeting Stein in Paris in 1926, Thomson invited her to prepare a libretto for an opera which he hoped to compose. Their collaboration resulted in the premier of the groundbreaking composition ''[[Four Saints in Three Acts]]'' in 1934. At the time, the opera was noted for its form, musical content and the portrayal of European saints by an all-black cast.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thomson|first1=Virgil|last2=Stein|first2=Gertrude|author2-link=Gertrude Stein|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LT4NrEo440AC|title=Four Saints in Three Acts|editor1=Hugh Wiley Hitchcock|editor1-link=H. Wiley Hitchcock|editor2=Charles Fussell|editor2-link=Charles Fussell|publisher=A-R Editions for the American Musicological Society|location=Middleton, Wisconsin|year=2008|isbn=978-0-89579-629-5|pages=XVII–XVIII, LIII–LV}}</ref> Years later in 1947, he collaborated once again with Stein on his provocative opera ''[[The Mother of Us All]]'' which portrays the life of the social reformer [[Susan B. Anthony]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mt8XBGub1WsC&pg=PA424|title=The Grove Book of Operas|edition=second|editor1=Stanley Sadie|editor1-link=Stanley Sadie|editor2=Laura Macy|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-530907-2|page=424|chapter=''The Mother of Us All'', Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson}}</ref> Thomson incorporated musical elements from Baptist hymns, Gregorian chants and popular songs into both scores while demonstrating a restrained use of dissonance.<ref name=Lamkin />

Thomson's contributions to music were not limited to the operatic stage, however. In 1936, he established a collaboration with the film director [[Pare Lorentz]] and composed music for the documentary film ''[[The Plow That Broke the Plains]]'' for the United States government's [[Resettlement Administration]] (RA). Thomson incorporated folk melodies and religious musical themes into the film score and subsequently composed an orchestral suite of the same name which was recorded by [[Leopold Stokowski]] and the [[Hollywood Bowl]] Symphony Orchestra in 1946 for RCA Victor (# 11-9522,11-9523).{{sfn|Lorentz|1992|pp=39–40, 52}}<ref>[https://archive.org/details/VIRGILTHOMSONThePlowThatBrokeThePlains ''The Plow That Broke the Plains – Suite'' score by Virgil Thomson as recorded by Leopold Stokowski and the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra in 1946 on archive.org]</ref> In 1938 he also formed a collaboration with Lorentz and the operatic singer [[Thomas Hardie Chalmers]] on the documentary film ''[[The River (1938 film)|The River]]'' for the United States government's [[Farm Security Administration]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/TheRiverReformatted ''The River'' by Farm Security Administration, Paul Lorentz & Virgil Thomson on Archive.org]</ref>{{sfn|Lorentz|1992|pp=53, 60, 166}} Thomson composed an orchestra suite based on the score; when it was published, the musical journal ''[[Notes (journal)|Notes]]'' commented: "Delightful as background music, the piece is an awful bore when you try to give it your full attention".<ref>Evett, Robert. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/89344 "Virgil Thomson: Suite from ''The River''"], ''[[Notes (journal)|Notes]]'', vol. 16, no. 1 (December, 1958), pp. 162–163 {{subscription required}}</ref>

Subsequently, in 1948 he collaborated with the director [[Robert J. Flaherty]] on the [[docufiction]] film ''[[Louisiana Story]]'', for which he received the [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] in 1949.{{sfn|Tommasini|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/virgilthomsoncom0000tomm/page/415 415]}} At the time, the award was the only Pulitzer Prize in music granted for a musical composition written exclusively for film.{{sfn|Tommasini|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/virgilthomsoncom0000tomm/page/417 417]}}<ref>[https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/virgil-thomson ''The Pulitzer Prizes – Music for the Film ''Louisiana Story'' by Virgil Thomson – 1949 Pulitzer prize Winner'', Virgil Thomson on pulitzer.org]</ref> Thomson's suite based on the score was premiered by [[Eugene Ormandy]] and the [[Philadelphia Orchestra]] in 1949 to widespread critical acclaim.{{sfn|Tommasini|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/virgilthomsoncom0000tomm/page/414 414]}}

Following the publication of his book, ''The State of Music'', Thomson established himself in New York City as a rival of [[Aaron Copland]]. Thomson's criticisms of Copland were phrased in terms that brought accusations of antisemitism, but Copland remained on good terms with him, and Thomson admitted his envy of Copland's greater success as a composer.<ref>[[Benjamin Ivry|Ivry, Benjamin]]. [https://forward.com/culture/218271/was-our-greatest-composer-critic-an-unrepentant-an/ "Was Our Greatest Composer-Critic an Unrepentant Anti-Semite?"], ''Forward'', April 10, 2015</ref> Thomson was also a music critic for the ''[[New York Herald-Tribune]]'' from 1940 to 1954.<ref>See Virgil Thomson biography [http://www.virgilthomson.org/bio.html here] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112074355/http://www.virgilthomson.org/bio.html |date=2008-11-12}}</ref> A fellow critic, Robert Miles, accused him of being "vindictive and of settling scores in print".<ref name=miles>Miles, Robert. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27548453 "Virgil Thomson All Told"], ''The Sewanee Review'', vol. 106, no. 1 (Winter, 1998), pp. xx–xxii {{subscription required}}</ref> In a 1997 article in ''[[American Music (journal)|American Music]]'', Suzanne Robinson writes that Thomson, motivated by "a mixture of spite, national pride, and professional jealousy" was consistently "severe and spiteful" to [[Benjamin Britten]].<ref>Robinson, Suzanne. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3052328 "An English Composer Sees America: Benjamin Britten and the North American Press, 1939–42"], ''[[American Music (journal)|American Music]]'', vol. 15, no. 3 (Autumn 1997), pp.&nbsp;321–351 {{subscription required}}</ref> Miles records that Thomson agitated for more performances in New York of new music, including his own.<ref name=miles/>

Thomson's definition of music was "that which musicians do",<ref>[[Ned Rorem|Rorem, Ned]] ''A Ned Rorem Reader'' (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2001) p. 223</ref> and his views on music are radical in their insistence on reducing the rarefied aesthetics of music to market activity. He even went so far as to claim that the style a piece was written in could be most effectively understood as a consequence of its income source.{{sfn|Thomson|2016|p=81}}

===Later years===
In 1969, Thomson composed ''Metropolitan Museum Fanfare: Portrait Of An American Artist'' to accompany the [[The Metropolitan Museum of Art Centennial|Museum's Centennial]] exhibition "New York Painting And Sculpture: 1940–1970".<ref>[http://libmma.org/digital_files/archives/Trescher_Centennial_records_b18234550.pdf Finding aid for the George Trescher records related to The Metropolitan Museum of Art Centennial, 1949, 1960–1971 (bulk 1967–1970)]. [[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]; retrieved August 6, 2014.</ref><ref>[[Tommasini, Anthony]], ''Virgil Thomson's Musical Portraits'' (New York: Pendragon Press, 1986), p. 19. {{ISBN|0918728517}}.</ref>

Thomson became a sort of mentor and father figure to a new generation of American tonal composers such as [[Ned Rorem]], [[Paul Bowles]] and [[Leonard Bernstein]], a circle united as much by their shared homosexuality as by their similar compositional sensibilities.<ref>Hubbs, Nadine. ''The Queer Composition of America's Sound; Gay Modernists, American Music, and National Identity'' (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2004).</ref> Women composers were not part of that circle, and one writer has suggested that, as a critic, he selectively omitted mention of their works, or adopted a more passive tone when praising them.<ref>Karen L. Carter-Schwendler. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061003174207/http://www.iawm.org/articles_html/carter_thomson.html "Virgil Thomson's ''Herald Tribune'' Writings: Fulfilling the 'Cultural Obligation' Selectively"], in ''[[International Alliance for Women in Music|IAWM]] Journal'', June 1995, pp. 12–15.</ref>

===Awards and honors===
Thomson was a recipient of [[Yale University]]'s [[Sanford Medal]].<ref>[http://www.tourdates.co.uk/news/6384-Leading-clarinetist-to-receive-Sanford-Medal Leading clarinetist to receive Sanford Medal] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729125854/http://www.tourdates.co.uk/news/6384-leading-clarinetist-to-receive-sanford-medal |date=2012-07-29}}, tourdates.co.uk; accessed October 31, 2015.</ref> In 1949, he was awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] for the score to the film ''[[Louisiana Story]]''<ref name=Lamkin /> and in 1977, he was awarded The [[Edward MacDowell Medal]] by [[The MacDowell Colony]] for outstanding contributions to American culture.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.macdowell.org/medal-day-history|title=Macdowell Medalists|accessdate=August 22, 2022}}</ref> In addition, the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] award was bestowed upon Thomson in 1983.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yIwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA479|title=Virgil Thomson|author=Virgil Thomson|publisher=Library of America & Penguin Random House|location=New York|year=2016|page=479|isbn=978-1-59853-476-4}}</ref> In 1988, he was awarded the [[National Medal of Arts]] by President [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref>[http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html#88 Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721054307/http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html |date=2011-07-21 }}, nea.gov; accessed October 31, 2015.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bPUTBQAAQBAJ&q=National+Medal+of+Arts&pg=PT870 ''Virgil Thomson: Music Chronicles 1940–1954'' Virgil Thomson. Library of America and Penguin Random House, New York 2014] {{ISBN|978-1-59853-309-5}} See Chronology 1988. Virgil Thomson and National Medal of Arts and Ronald Reagan</ref> He was a National Patron of [[Delta Omicron]], an international professional music fraternity.<ref>[http://delta-omicron.org/index00.html Delta Omicron] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127130549/http://delta-omicron.org/index00.html |date=2010-01-27}}, delta-omicron.org; accessed October 31, 2015.</ref>

===Death===
Thomson died on September 30, 1989, in his suite at the [[Hotel Chelsea]] in Manhattan, aged 92. He had lived at the Chelsea for close to 50 years.<ref>{{cite news |last1=von Rhein |first1=John |title=Virgil Thomson, Prize-winning Composer, Influential Music Critic |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/10/01/virgil-thomson-prize-winning-composer-influential-music-critic/ |access-date=1 April 2018 |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=1 October 1989}}</ref>