Virgil Thomson

with Eric Martin

July 7, 1983

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Entire interview focuses on Lou Harrison and Thomson’s association with him:

early acquaintance through John Cage--Harrison and Cage’s early works for percussion, Cornish School--Eva Gauthier--Harry Partch, ballet and Japanese television characters--Thomson hires broke Harrison in NYC--Harrison in Rome, music to text of William Morris--Harrison in Tokyo, Esperanto, Gagaku--Harrison in Korea, private composition lessons, Oriental music / tunings--Harrison’s NYC harpsichords, gamelans--Bill Colvig--Harrison’s editing of Ives--Cage, Harrison, Henry Cowell and Thomson’s co-authored Party Pieces (surrealist game), pub. C.F. Peters--Harrison’s handwriting / calligraphy.

Virgil Thomson

with Roger L. Hall

Baltimore, Maryland

April 18, 1979

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side i                                                                                                              pp. 1-10

film industry--Jim Bridges, John Houseman, Orson Welles--John Williams, Star Wars--music composition for film, “emotion music”--The State of Music--Andre Previn, Henry V, William Walton--Bob Flaherty, Louisiana Story--film music in concert hall, popular songs--Pare Lorentz--The Goddess, Chayevsky-- Southern Hymns--music in The River--Lana Turner--Bernard Herman, Citizen Kane, Copland’s, The Red Pony--conductors--film scores’ survival--choral music, tunes’ sources, Appalachian Spring

Virgil Thomson

with Joan Thomson

October 18, 1976

Chelsea Hotel

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side j                                                                                                              pp. 1- 15

Leonide Massine, Sylvia Marlowe, Ralph Mannheim--Virgil Thomson on Virgil Thomson--Thomson’s sister’s china painting--concert-going and time as critic for The Herald Tribune--Portrait of Peggy Guggenheim, Peggy Guggenheim, portraiture--religiosity of work and childhood, David Siquieros (Mexican painter)--from Kansas to Harvard--time spent with Nadia Boulanger: her teaching, Copland, Copland’s First Symphony (premiere)--Four Saints in Three Acts, Gertrude Stein, words’ settings, enunciation, Sara Caldwell, Noel Coward, Maria Callas--contemporary opera, La Piccola Scala-- Wagner--post-interview reflections by Joan Thomson: difficulty of interview, Michael Steinberg

AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                                              29 e-f

Virgil Thomson

With Esther Herriot [sp?]

SUNY Buffalo, NY

September 26, 1980

Table of Contents

Side m                                                                                                                       p. 1-10

Paris -- the Bohemian lifestyle -- poets, painters and musicians -- New York -- World War I -- The Tribune -- deadlines -- The Louisiana Story -- filmmaker Flaherty [sp?] -- Gertrude Stein -- Four Saints in Three Acts -- The Mother of us All -- Alice Toklas -- getting one's music accepted -- writing criticism -- The New York Times' critics -- the power of criticism

AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                                               29 n

Virgil Thomson

with David Dubal

American Arts Project; WNCN (Jake Holmes)

New York, N.Y>

approximately 1983 or 1984

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side n                                                                                                                        pp. 1-12

Introductory statement by Thomson--Hymn Tune Symphony--Filling Station--Plough That Broke the Plains--The  River--Louisiana Story--The Goddess--musical portraits:  David Dubal in Flight--writing books--institutional teaching--Ned Rorem as his pupil--other students--Kennedy Center honors--politics--Mother of Us All--other twentieth-century composers: Stravinsky, Copland, Gershwin--Cage's comment about Thomson--playing the piano--conducting--Gertrude Stein--nostalgia.

AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                                              29o

Virgil Thomson

With Vivian Perlis

Chelsea Hotel

New York, N.Y.

June 6, 1979

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side o                                                                                                             pp.  1-20

Pupils of Boulanger: Melville Smith--study with Boulanger--Copland and Boulanger--Copland "Organ Symphony"--friendship with Copland--concert organized on Boulanger--article on Copland for Modern Music--Piano Variations and after--influence of Shostakovich--Copland and Sessions--popular music vs. modernism--Harold Clurman--Copland and the Group Theater--Harris, Cowell, Cage--Britten--Mary Churchill--Copland Organ Symphony--Copland's conducting--Victor Kraft--Copland as patron of musical youth--Copland's background--error at Boosey & Hawkes.