THOMSON, Virgil
b Kansas City, 25 November 1896
d New York, NY. 30 Sep 1989, aged ninety-three

He first became known as a music critic. After World War I he went to Harvard, and to Paris as a pupil of Boulanger. He became organist and choirmaster of King's Chapel, Boston. He then studied piano and spent from 1925 to 1932 at the l'École Normale de Musique in Paris on a scholarship, becoming closely associated with the influential composers known as 'Les Six'.

1923 (27)

Two Sentimental Tangos

1926 (30)

Sonata da Chiesa, for five instruments

1928 (32)

Symphony on a Hymn Tune

1929 (33)

Five Portraits, for four clarinets

1930 (34)

Violin Sonata

1931 (35)

Quartet No 1

Serenade for flute and violin

Four Portraits, for violin and piano

Stabat Mater

1932 (36)

Quartet No 2

1934 (38)

Four Saints in Three Acts, opera

1937 (41)

Filling Station, ballet

1941 (45)

Symphony No 2

1942 (46)

Canon for Dorothy Thomson

The Mayor La Guardia Waltzes

1943 (47)

Flute Sonata

1944 (48)

Suite No 1, Portraits

Suite No 2

1947 (51)

The Mother of Us All, opera

The Seine at Night, for orchestra

1948 (52)

Wheatfield at Noon, for orchestra

Arcadian Songs and Dances

1949 (53)

Cello Concerto

1951 (55)

Five Songs of William Blake, for baritone and orchestra

1952 (56)

Sea Piece with Birds, for orchestra

1954 (58)

Concerto for flute, strings and percussion

1957 (61)

The Lively Arts, fugue

1959 (63)

Fugues and Cantilenas, for orchestra

Collected Poems, for soprano, baritone and orchestra

1960 (64)

Mass for solo voice and piano (version with orchestra, 1962)

Missa pro defunctis (Requiem Mass), for men's chorus, women's chorus and orchestra

1961 (65)

A Solemn Music, for orchestra (transcribed from original band score)

1962 (66)

A Joyful Fugue, to follow A Solemn Music

Pange lingua, for organ

1964 (68)

The Feast of Love, for baritone and orchestra

Autumn Concertino, for harp, strings and percussion

1966 (70)

Lord Byron, opera (1966-8)

Fantasy in homage to an Earlier England, for orchestra

The Nativity, for mixed chorus, soloists and orchestra (1966-7)

Etude, for cello and piano

1967 (71)

Shipwreck and Love Scene, from Byron's 'Don Juan', for orchestra and tenor soloist

1973 (77)

Cantata based on Nonsense Rhymes

1981 (85)

Nineteen Piano Portraits

1982 (86)

Ten Etudes for piano

Thomson has also composed four piano sonatas.