Synopsis
American composer Virgil Thomson was fond of writing what he called “portraits”: musical sketches of people he knew. When asked how he did this, Thomson replied: “I just look at you and I write down what I hear.”
One of these works — a portrait in disguise — premiered on today’s date in 1954 at the Venice Festival in Italy. Identified simply as his Concerto for Flute, Strings, Harp, and Percussion, Thomson later confessed it was in fact a musical portrait of Roger Baker, a handsome young painter he had recently befriended.
Thomson was born in Kansas City in 1896, studied music at Harvard, lived in Paris through much of the 1920s and 30s, and in 1940 became the music critic of The New York Herald-Tribune, a post he held until 1954. He once defined the role of music critic as one who “seldom kisses, but always tells.”
But in 1954, he decided fourteen years as a music critic was enough, and it was time to concentrate on his own music for a change. Perhaps not by coincidence, one of the friends who encouraged him to do so was Roger Baker, the artist portrayed by Thomson in his 1954 concerto.
Music Played in Today's Program
Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): Flute Concerto; Mary Stolper, flute; Czech National Symphony; Paul Freeman, conductor; Cedille 046
On This Day
Births
1893 - Australian composer Arthur Benjamin, in Sydney
1910 - Polish-born Israeli composer Josef Tal, in Pinne (near Posen)
Deaths
1970 - Rock guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix, 27, due to an overdose
Premieres
1954 - Virgil Thomson: Concerto for flute, strings and percussion, in Venice
1960 - Penderecki: Dimensions of Time and Silence, during Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music
1978 - Shostakovich: unfinished opera The Gamblers (after Nikolai Gogol), in Leningrad at the Large Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic
1986 - Corigliano: Fantasia on an Ostinato by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta
1998 - Bright Sheng: Spring Dreams, by cellist Yo-Yo Ma with the Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwartz conducting
1998 - Michael Torke: Lucent Variations, in St. Paul, Minnesota, by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Hugh Wolff conducting
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.