Changes to definition of Pulitzer for music spark dissonance

The Pulitzer Prize board has changed the language describing the prize for music in an effort to broaden the scope of the award while preserving its reputation for recognizing distinction.

Reaction among former Pulitzer Prize winners in music has been mixed. Gunther Schuller says, "This is a long overdue sea change in the whole attitude as to what can be considered for the prize. It is an opening up to different styles and not at all to different levels of quality." John Harbison, on the other hand, calls the changes "a horrible development." "If you were to impose a comparable standard on fiction you would be soliciting entries from the authors of airport novels. There is an award on television every night for every category of popular culture you can think of, except for those demanding artistic enterprise, and the Pulitzer was one of the few places where such cultural enterprise could be recognized."

Since 1997, the definition of the prize has read, "For distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year." The new language drops the words "of significant dimension," and includes the alternative of "recording" in addition to "performance." The guidelines now "strongly urge" the submission of a score rather than requiring one, in the hope of making improvisational work admissible. And the jury, formerly of composers and one critic, will be widened to include another professional -- conductor, performer, or presenter.

According to Jay Harris, a Pulitzer board member who headed the yearlong study of the music prize: "The board has been concerned for many years that the full range of exellence in American music was not somehow getting through the process in such a way that it could be properly and appropriately considered. The changes in the wording are intended to make sure that the full range of excellence can be considered. The prize should not be reserved essentially for music that comes out of the European classical tradition. In the history or biography categories we consider everything from works that are clearly academic in nature to works written for a more general audience, and the music category should be the same." Sig Gissler, Pulitzer Prize administrator, adds, "The intent is to widen the prize without weakening it."

Carnegie Hall artistic adviser Ara Guzelimian, who was consulted on the changes, says: "It would be easy to imagine a year in which a new work of Stephen Sondheim was hands down the best work in American music. The curiosities of young musicians are large and open, and they cross boundaries easily. The Pulitzer board wanted to be open to the possibility that a great American musical work could appear in any genre -- and actively solicit it."

Over the years, special Pulitzer citations have been posthumously awarded to Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, and Duke Ellington -- only Ellington was eligible during his lifetime.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Olly Wilson calls the changes "a move in the right direction" because they acknowledge "a wider spectrum of music, including music that is not written down."

But two Massachusetts winners of the prize say they are not happy with the direction it has taken. Donald Martino says, "The prize has already begun to go in the direction of permitting less serious stuff, wording or not. If you write music long enough, sooner or later, someone is going to take pity on you and give you the damn thing. It is not always the award for the best piece of the year; it has gone to whoever hasn't gotten it before." Lewis Spratlan says, "The Pulitzer is one of the very few prizes that award artistic distinction in front-edge, risk-taking music. To dilute this objective by inviting the likes of musicals and movie scores, no matter how excellent, is to undermine the distinctiveness and capability for artistic advancement. . . . [The requirement of a "significant dimension"] set a high standard for the kind of artistry required to sustain an idea over time, to achieve a certain mass in its message and impact."

Harbison feels the door is now open to every garage band that has a tape to nominate itself for the Pulitzer Prize. Sculler isn't worried about that: "Nothing of only a casual or commercial nature is ever going to survive the committee."