In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore the winner of the seventh Pulitzer Prize in Music, Virgil Thomson for his score to the film Louisiana Story.
Virgil Thomson is perhaps best known for his operas like Four Saints in Three Acts or his precise and incisive music criticism at the New York Herald Tribune. But he was also a pioneer in film scoring, particularly documentary film scoring during the Great Depression. In 1936, he wrote his first film score for Pare Lorentz's The Plow that Broke the Plains, and he followed it up with The River two years later for the same director. A decade later, the father of the narrative documentary film, Robert Flaherty, hired Thomson to score what would be his last film. As the only piece of movie music to ever win the Pulitzer, Louisiana Story is at least a curiosity in the prize's history, but does it stand up today?
If you'd like more information about Virgil Thomson we recommend:
Episode 33 - 1975: Dominick Argento, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
Episode 32 - 1974: Donald Martino, Notturno
Episode 31 - 1973: Elliott Carter, String Quartet No. 3
Episode 30 - 1972: Jacob Druckman, Windows
Episode 29 - 1971: Mario Davidovsky, Synchronisms No. 6
Episode 28 - 1970: Charles Wuorinen, Time’s Encomium
Episode 27 - 1969: Karel Husa, String Quartet No. 3
Episode 26 - 1968: George Crumb, Echoes of Time and the River
Episode 25 - 1967: Leon Kirchner, Third String Quartet
Episode 24 - 1966: Leslie Bassett, Variations for Orchestra
Episode 23 - 1965: No Prize (the Pulitzer Hat Trick)
Episode 22 - 1964: No Prize (again)
Episode 21 - 1963: Samuel Barber, Piano Concerto No. 1
Episode 20 - 1962: Robert Ward, The Crucible
Episode 19 - 1961: Walter Piston, Symphony No. 7
Episode 18 - 1960: Elliott Carter, Second String Quartet
Episode 17 - 1959: John La Montaine, Piano Concerto No. 1
Episode 16 - 1958: Samuel Barber, Vanessa
Episode 15 - 1957: Norman Dello Joio, Meditations on Ecclesiastes
Episode 14 - 1956: Ernst Toch, Symphony No. 3
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