Virgil Thomson
1896 - 1989
United States of America, MO
Virgil Thomson (25/11/1896 - 30/09/1989), an American composer, critic, and organist, born in Kansas City. He studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Until about 1926 he wrote in a dissonant, neoclassic style, but after his 16-minute quintet Sonata da chiesa (1926), he began to employ a highly simplified style that shows the influence of Erik Satie. He wrote two operas, music for films, an opera and numerous works for voice, organ, piano, and chamber ensembles.
Missa pro defunctis
| Period: | Modernism |
| Composed in: | 1960 |
| Musical form: | mass |
| Text/libretto: | Latin mass |
| Duration: | 45' |
A requiem mass for men's chorus, women's chorus and orchestra. Requiem settings from the 20th century are remarkable for their range and variety. Those that continue the ‘symphonic’ manner of the previous century include the settings by Maliszewski (1930), G.F. Malipiero (1938), Guido Guerrini (Missa pro defunctis ‘alla memoria di G. Marconi’, 1938–9), Sutermeister (1952), Virgil Thomson (1960) and Frank Martin (1971–2).
| Author: | Steven Chang-Lin Yu
|
Missa pro defunctis for (TTBB).(SSAA)-3.3.3.3-4.3.3.1-timp.3perc-cel.harp-str. Commissioned by the State University College of New York at Potsdam for the Crane Chorus
| Source: | https://www.virgilthomson.org/works/missa-pro-defunctis/ |