Episodes
Sunday May 24, 2020
Episode 7 - 1949: Virgil Thomson, Louisiana Story
Sunday May 24, 2020
Sunday May 24, 2020
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:
- Anthony Tommasini's magisterial biography Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle (New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999).
- The Library of America's collection of Virgil Thomson's writings, edited by Tim Page
- The Virgil Thomson Papers at Yale University: https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/6/resources/10673
- Thomson's website page with more resources: http://www.virgilthomson.org/resources/further-research
Monday May 04, 2020
Episode 6 - 1948: Walter Piston, Symphony No. 3
Monday May 04, 2020
Monday May 04, 2020
In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore the winner of the sixth Pulitzer Prize in Music, Walter Piston for his Symphony No. 3.
Walter Piston was a long-time teacher at Harvard University (Leonard Bernstein and Elliott Carter count among his students) and author of several influential textbooks, including Principles of Harmonic Analysis (1933) and Orchestration (1955). He was also, according to Aaron Copland, “one of the most expert craftsmen American music can boast.” His Symphony No. 3, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1948, displays that craftsmanship but also the rich, sonorous sound he could pull from the orchestra. But how does it stand up today?
If you'd like more information about Walter Piston we recommend:
- Carol Oja's essay "Reappraising Walter Piston"
- Elliott Carter's summary of his teacher's music "Walter Piston" in The Musical Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 3 (July 1946): 354-375.
- Howard Pollack's book Harvard Composers: Walter Piston and His Students, from Elliott Carter to Frederick Rzewski (Scarecrow Press, 1992).
- The first recording of the piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18IybqdI5dw