Solo and Chamber Music of Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composers

Abstract

The Pulitzer Prize in Music, established in 1943, is one of America's most prestigious awards. It has been awarded to fifty-three composers for a "distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year." Composers who have won the Pulitzer Prize are considered to be at the pinnacle of their creativity and have provided the musical world with classical music compositions worthy of future notice. By tracing the history of Pulitzer Prize-winning composers and their compositions, researchers and musicians enhance their understanding of the historical evolution of American music, and its impact on American culture.

Although the clarinet music of some of these composers is rarely performed today, their names will be forever linked to the Pulitzer, and because of that, their compositions will enjoy a certain sense of immortality. Of the fifty-four composers who have won the award, forty-seven have written for the clarinet in a solo or chamber music setting (five or less instruments). Just as each Pulitzer Prize-winning composition is a snapshot of the state of American music at that time, these works trace the history of American clarinet musical development, and therefore, they are valuable additions to the clarinet repertoire and worthy of performance.

This dissertation project consists of two recitals featuring the solo and chamber clarinet music of sixteen Pulitzer Prize-winning composers, extended program notes containing information on each composer's life, their music, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composition and the recital selection, and a complete list of all Pulitzer Prize-winning composers and their solo and chamber clarinet music.

Featured Composers

Dominick Argento, To Be Sung Upon the Water

Leslie Bassett, Soliloquies

William Bolcom, Little Suite of Four Dances

Aaron Copland, As it Fell Upon a Day

John Corigliano, Soliloquy

Norman Dello Joio, Concertante

Morton Gould, Benny's Gig

Charles Ives, Largo

Douglas Moore, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings

George Perle, Three Sonatas

Quincy Porter, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings

Mel Powell, Clarinade

Shulamit Ran, Private Game

Joseph Schwantner, Entropy

Leo Sowerby, Sonata

Ernst Toch, Adagio elegiaco