Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomsonwas 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"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth25 November 1896
CityKansas City, MO
CountryUnited States of America
I don't have to worry No matter what they do to it, it works.
I look at you and I write down what I hear.
I've never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.
Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.
You explain how it went, and as far as you can figure out how it got that way.
Musicians own music because music owns them.
The description and explanation is the best part of music reviewing. There is such a thing, and you know it too, as a gift for judgment. If you have it, you can say anything you like. If you haven't got it, you don't know you haven't got it.
I don't go around regretting things that don't happen.
Verbal communication about music is impossible except among musicians.
I don't care what other critics say, I only hope to be played.
Every composer's music reflects in its subject-matter and in its style the source of the money the composer is living on while writing the music.
I never learned to verbalize an abstract musical concept. No thank you. The whole point of being a serious musician is to avoid verbalization whenever you can.