Randall Thompson

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For the Canadian boxer, see Randall Thompson (boxer).
Randall Thompson
Daniel Varney Thompson, Jr.
, brother

Randall Thompson (April 21, 1899 – July 9, 1984) was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works.

Career

Thompson attended The Lawrenceville School, where his father was an English teacher. He then attended Harvard University, became assistant professor of music and choir director at Wellesley College, and received a doctorate in music from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music. He went on to teach at the Curtis Institute of Music (serving as its Director 1941/1942), at the University of Virginia, and at Harvard University. He is particularly noted for his choral works. He was an honorary member of the Rho Tau chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity at Appalachian State University.

Thompson composed three

Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. He also wrote the operas Solomon and Balkis
and The Nativity According to St. Luke.

Americana, a

American Mercury magazine, which would reprint quotes and stories from U.S. publications.[2] The song cycle's texts come from such publications as the Seattle, Washington, Post-Intelligencer, the Little Rock, Arkansas, Gazette, and a leaflet issued by the National Women's Christian Temperance Union.[3]

Leonard Bernstein was one of Thompson's students both at Harvard and at Curtis, according to his own testimony in a speech he gave at Curtis Institute's 75th Anniversary Banquet. Thompson's other notable students include Samuel Adler, Leo Kraft, Juan Orrego-Salas, John Davison, Thomas Beveridge, Charles Edward Hamm, George Lynn, William P. Perry, Christopher King, Joel Cohen, Frederic Rzewski, Richard Edward Wilson, John Walter Hill, and David Borden.

In honor of Thompson's vast influence on male choral music, on May 2, 1964, he became the first recipient of the prestigious

Sanford Medal.[5]

Works

Choral works

Operas

Symphonies

  • Symphony No. 1 (1931)
  • Symphony No. 2 (1931)
  • Symphony No. 3 (1947–49)

String quartets

  • Quartet No. 1 in D minor (1941)
  • Quartet No. 2 in G major (1967)

References

  1. ^ Thomas, H. Todd. News Items: An Exploratory Study of Journalism in Music. Abilene, Texas, 1992.
  2. ^ Thompson, Randall. Americana. Album NW 219, New World Records, 1977)
  3. ^ Thomas, H. Todd. News Items: An Exploratory Study of Journalism in Music. Abilene, Texas, 1992.
  4. ^ "The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit Recipients".
  5. ^ Leading clarinetist to receive Sanford Medal Archived 2012-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Ericson, Raymond (29 March 1965). "Handel and Haydn Society Turns 150 in Full Voice" (PDF). New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2012.

Further reading

"Thompson, (Ira) Randall" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 25. Pub. 2001.

External links
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