Editing Pulitzer Prize for Music (section)

==History==
In his will, dated April 16, 1904, Joseph Pulitzer established annual prizes for a number of creative accomplishments by living Americans, including prizes for journalism, novels, plays, histories and biographies, but did not establish a prize in music, choosing instead to inaugurate an annual scholarship for "the student of music in America whom the Advisory Board shall deem the most talented and deserving, in order that he may continue his studies with the advantage of European instruction."<ref name="Extracts">{{cite web |title=Extracts from the Will of Joseph Pulitzer |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/page/extracts-will-joseph-pulitzer |website=The Pulitzer Prizes |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=April 5, 2020}}</ref> The Pulitzer Prize for Music was instituted in 1943 to recognize works of "music in its larger forms as composed by an American."<ref name="Fischer">{{cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=Heinz-Dietrich and Erika J. Fischer |title=Musical Composition Awards 1943–1999: From Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber to Gian-Carlo Menotti and Melinda Wagner |date=201 |publisher=K.G. Saur |location=Munich |isbn=978-3598301858 |page=L |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f06tJrVaxTYC&q=%22music+in+its+larger+forms%22&pg=PR50 |access-date=April 5, 2020}}</ref> The phrase "music in its larger forms" proved difficult to interpret for the advisory board and the prize's juries, resulting in controversies over the years.<ref name="Hohenberg">{{cite book |last1=Hohenberg |first1=John |title=The Pulitzer Diaries: Inside America's Greatest Prize |date=1997 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |location=Syracuse |isbn=978-0815603924 |page=145 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aTa5K1Rr0VsC&q=%22music+in+its+larger+forms%22+pulitzer&pg=PA149 |access-date=April 5, 2020}}</ref> One critic of the award said, "The Prize Board could hardly have chosen more offensive words to communicate its message."<ref name="Fischer" />

In 1965, the jury unanimously decided that no major work was worthy of the Pulitzer Prize. Instead, it recommended a special citation be given to [[Duke Ellington]] in recognition of his body of work, but the Pulitzer Board refused and therefore no award was given that year.<ref>Lang, Peter. "The Pulitzer Prize Winners for Music". Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2010, pp. 102–103.</ref> Ellington responded: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be too famous too young." (He was then 67 years old.)<ref name="slate1">{{cite web|last=Kaplan |first=Fred | author-link=Fred Kaplan (journalist)|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2140177/ |title=When will the Pulitzer Prize in music get it right? – By Fred Kaplan – Slate Magazine |publisher=Slate.com |date=April 19, 2006 |access-date=July 23, 2010}}</ref> Despite this joke, [[Nat Hentoff]] reported that when he spoke to Ellington about the subject, he was "angrier than I'd ever seen him before", and Ellington said, "I'm hardly surprised that my kind of music is still without, let us say, official honor at home. Most Americans still take it for granted that European-based music—classical music, if you will—is the only really respectable kind."<ref name="opinionjournal1">{{cite web|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110005313 |title=WSJ - Arts, Theatre, Film, Music, Books, Food, Wine, Fashion, Events - WSJ.com |publisher=Opinionjournal.com |access-date=July 23, 2010}}</ref>

In 1996, the Pulitzer Board announced a change in the criteria for the music prize "so as to attract the best of a wider range of American music."<ref name="slate1"/> African-American composer and trumpeter [[Wynton Marsalis]] became the first jazz artist to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1997. The legitimacy of his win was debated, as his entry, ''[[Blood on the Fields]]'', should not have been eligible according to the Pulitzer guidelines: winning works are required to have had their first performance during the year of the award, but Marsalis's piece premiered on April 1, 1994, and [[Columbia Records]] released its recording in 1995. In an attempt to bypass that requirement, Marsalis's management had submitted a "revised version" of ''Blood on the Fields'' that had seven minor changes and a "premiere" at [[Yale University]].<ref name="earbox1">{{cite web |url=http://www.earbox.com/inter008.html |title=John Adams; Interviews, Articles & Essays |publisher=Earbox.com |date=May 6, 2003 |access-date=July 23, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028203939/http://earbox.com/inter008.html |archive-date=October 28, 2010 }}</ref> When asked what would make a revised work eligible, the chairman of that year's [[music jury]], [[Robert Ward (composer)|Robert Ward]], said: "Not a cut here and there...or a slight revision", but rather something that changed "the whole conception of the piece". After reading a list of the revisions to the piece, Ward acknowledged that they should not have made it eligible.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gregsandow.com/marsalis.htm |title=Wynton Marsalis and the Pulitzer Prize |publisher=Greg Sandow |access-date=July 23, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123050416/http://gregsandow.com/marsalis.htm |archive-date=November 23, 2010 }}</ref>

Ten women have received the Pulitzer Prize: [[Ellen Taaffe Zwilich]] in 1983; [[Shulamit Ran]] in 1991; [[Melinda Wagner]] in 1999; [[Jennifer Higdon]] in 2010; [[Caroline Shaw]] in 2013; [[Julia Wolfe]] in 2015; [[Du Yun]] in 2017; [[Ellen Reid (composer)|Ellen Reid]] in 2019; [[Tania León]] in 2021; and [[Rhiannon Giddens]] in 2023. In addition to being the first woman to receive the award, Zwilich was also the first woman to receive a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition at the [[Juilliard School of Music]].<ref name="american1">{{cite web|url=http://www.american.edu/heintze/Pul1.htm |title=The Pulitzer Prize in Music: 1943–2002 |publisher=American.edu |access-date=July 23, 2010}}</ref> Du is the first woman of color to receive the award.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/2017-pulitzers-announced/|title=Du Yun Awarded 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music|date=April 10, 2017|website=NewMusicBox|access-date=July 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/04/10/523314127/du-yuns-angels-bone-wins-pulitzer-prize-for-music|title=Du Yun's 'Angel's Bone' Wins Pulitzer Prize For Music|website=NPR.org|date=April 10, 2017|access-date=July 20, 2019|last1=Flanagan|first1=Andrew}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-du-yuns-pulitzer-win-means-for-women-in-classical-music|title=What Du Yun's Pulitzer Win Means for Women in Classical Music|first=William|last=Robin|magazine=The New Yorker |date=April 13, 2017|access-date=July 20, 2019|via=www.newyorker.com}}</ref> [[George Walker (composer)|George Walker]] was the first African American composer to win the Prize, for his work ''Lilacs'' in 1996.

In 1992 the music jury, which that year consisted of [[George Perle]], [[Roger Reynolds]], and [[Harvey Sollberger]], chose [[Ralph Shapey]]'s ''[[Concerto Fantastique]]'' for the award. The Pulitzer Board rejected that decision and gave the prize to the jury's second choice, [[Wayne Peterson]]'s ''[[The Face of the Night, the Heart of the Dark]]''. The jury responded with a public statement that they had not been consulted in that decision and that the Board was not professionally qualified to make such a decision.  The Board responded that the "Pulitzers are enhanced by having, in addition to the professional's point of view, the layman's or consumer's point of view" and did not rescind its decision.<ref name="american1"/>

In 2004, responding to criticism, [[Sig Gissler]], the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes at the [[Columbia University School of Journalism]], announced that the board wanted to "broaden the prize a bit so that we can be more assured that we are getting the full range of the best of America's music". Board member [[Jay T. Harris]] said, "The prize should not be reserved essentially for music that comes out of the European classical tradition."<ref name="opinionjournal1"/>

The announced rule changes included altering the jury pool to include performers and presenters in addition to composers and critics. Entrants are no longer required to submit a score. Recordings are also accepted, although scores are still "strongly urged." Gissler said, "The main thing is we're trying to keep this a serious prize. We're not trying to dumb it down any way shape or form, but we're trying to augment it, improve it...I think the critical term here is 'distinguished American musical compositions.'"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/12176377 |title=Eminem News – Yahoo! Music |publisher=Music.yahoo.com |access-date=July 23, 2010}}</ref> Reaction among Pulitzer Prize in Music winners has varied.

The Pulitzer Prize Advisory Board officially announced: "After more than a year of studying the Prize, now in its 61st year, the Pulitzer Prize Board declares its strong desire to consider and honor the full range of distinguished American musical compositions—from the contemporary classical symphony to jazz, opera, choral, musical theater, movie scores and other forms of musical excellence...Through the years, the Prize has been awarded chiefly to composers of classical music and, quite properly, that has been of large importance to the arts community. However, despite some past efforts to broaden the competition, only once has the Prize gone to a jazz composition, a musical drama or a movie score. In the late 1990s, the Board took tacit note of the criticism leveled at its predecessors for failure to cite two of the country's foremost jazz composers. It bestowed a Special Citation on [[George Gershwin]] marking the 1998 centennial celebration of his birth and [[Duke Ellington]] on his 1999 centennial year. Earlier, in 1976, a Special Award was made to [[Scott Joplin]] in the [[American Bicentennial]] year.  While Special Awards and Citations continue to be an important option, the Pulitzer Board believes that the Music Prize, in its own annual competition, should encompass the nation's array of distinguished music and hopes that the refinements in the Prize's definition, guidelines and jury membership will serve that end.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/resources/musannounce.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705165057/http://www.pulitzer.org/resources/musannounce.html|url-status=dead|title=The Pulitzer Prize for Music – It's Time to Alter and Affirm|archive-date=July 5, 2008|website=www.pulitzer.org|access-date=July 20, 2019}}</ref>

In 2006, a posthumous "Special Citation" was given to jazz composer [[Thelonious Monk]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/year/2006/special-citation/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509075742/http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2006/special-citation/|url-status=dead|title=SPECIAL AWARD|archive-date=May 9, 2008|website=www.pulitzer.org|access-date=July 20, 2019}}</ref> and in 2007 the prize went to [[Ornette Coleman]], a free jazz composer, for his disc ''[[Sound Grammar]]'', a recording of a 2005 concert, the first time a recording won the music Pulitzer, and a first for purely improvised music.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2007/04/16/9607210/ornette-coleman-wins-music-pulitzer|title=Ornette Coleman Wins Music Pulitzer|website=NPR.org|date=April 16, 2007|access-date=July 20, 2019}}</ref>

In 2018, rapper [[Kendrick Lamar]] won the award for his 2017 [[hip hop music|hip hop]] album ''[[Damn (Kendrick Lamar album)|Damn]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Pulitzer Prizes Twitter|url=https://twitter.com/PulitzerPrizes/status/985958652656930816|website=Twitter|access-date=April 16, 2018}}</ref> The recording was the first musical work not in the jazz or classical genre to win the prize.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kendrick Lamar Wins Pulitzer Prize {{!}} Pitchfork|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/kendrick-lamar-wins-pulitzer-prize/|website=pitchfork.com|date=April 16, 2018|access-date=April 16, 2018|language=en}}</ref>