COMPOSER

Virgil Thomson

1896 - 1989

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Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassicist, and a composer of "an Olympian blend of humanity and detachment" whose "expressive voice was always carefully muted" until his late opera Lord Byron which, in contrast to all his previous work, exhibited an emotional content that rises to "moments of real passion". Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Virgil Thomson is the 1,256th most popular composer (up from 1,265th in 2019), the 8,558th most popular biography from United States (down from 8,400th in 2019) and the 86th most popular American Composer.

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Among COMPOSERS

Among composers, Virgil Thomson ranks 1,256 out of 1,451Before him are Mark Snow, Masaaki Suzuki, Antón García Abril, George Alexander Macfarren, Frigyes Hidas, and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh. After him are Alberto Nepomuceno, Rachel Portman, Kōsaku Yamada, Kurt Thomas, Józef Kozłowski, and Georg Friedrich Haas.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1896, Virgil Thomson ranks 231Before him are Alberto Vargas, Luiz Vinhaes, Natalie Talmadge, Esteban Canal, Ralph Bagnold, and Charles Pahud de Mortanges. After him are Miles Dempsey, Ramón Eguiazábal, John Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton, Blanche Sweet, Jack Pickford, and Simon Barere. Among people deceased in 1989, Virgil Thomson ranks 241Before him are Friederich Franzl, Lee Calhoun, King Tubby, Frank Sullivan, M. King Hubbert, and Roberto Figueroa. After him are Hemanta Mukherjee, György Kulin, Asbjørn Ruud, Birago Diop, Duncan Gregg, and John Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Virgil Thomson ranks 8,560 out of 20,380Before him are Chaim Potok (1929), Alfred Francis Russell (1817), Robert Rubin (1938), Warren Jeffs (1955), Jackson Scholz (1897), and Robert Christgau (1942). After him are Oliver Nelson (1932), Norman Joseph Woodland (1921), Katherine Dunham (1909), Saoirse Ronan (1994), Priscilla Cooper Tyler (1816), and Vera-Ellen (1921).

Among COMPOSERS In United States

Among composers born in United States, Virgil Thomson ranks 86Before him are Frank Churchill (1901), David Diamond (1915), Milton Babbitt (1916), William Schuman (1910), Leigh Harline (1907), and Mark Snow (1946). After him are Marco Beltrami (1966), H. C. Robbins Landon (1926), Florence Price (1887), Vincent Youmans (1898), Pauline Oliveros (1932), and Conlon Nancarrow (1912).