On Friday, news began circulating that American composer Wayne Peterson died at the age of 93. He was a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, for his orchestral work “The Face of the Night, the Heart of the Dark,” in 1992.
The award was not without controversy. Through no fault of Peterson’s own, the prize caused a bit of a scandal after the judges on the music committee went public with news that their own selection – Ralph Shapey’s “Concerto Fantastique” – had been vetoed by the Pulitzer board, and the award bestowed for Peterson’s piece instead.
While the board’s intervention was not unprecedented (Edward Albee’s play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woof?” and Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Gravity’s Rainbow” were similarly dismissed), it was the first time it had imposed its will in the music category.
What exactly spurred the action is anyone’s guess. Certainly Peterson’s work is no more commercially viable than Shapey’s. So it could not have been a sop to the public. Though the board justified its decision by stating the “Pulitzers are enhanced by having, in addition to the professional’s point of view, the layman’s or consumer’s point of view.”
On the other hand, Shapey did have something of a reputation for being a prickly S.O.B., so maybe he just rubbed the wrong people the wrong way. Unquestionably, he had the respect of his peers. He had previously been a finalist for the Pulitzer in 1990.
“I’ve been up for a Pulitzer year after year,” he remarked, “and I can’t get a Pulitzer.” Shapey was born in Philadelphia 100 years ago last month. He died in 2002.
With few notable exceptions – among them Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 3, “The Camp Meeting” – Pulitzer Prize winners tend to fade from memory rather quickly.
When Ives was awarded the Pulitzer in 1947, he muttered, “Prizes are for boys. I’m a grown-up.”
Forever cranky, he characterized the very notion of prizes as “badges of mediocrity.”
Peterson himself remarked, “Winning the Pulitzer has meant nothing for the piece that won. Back when Blomstedt was at the San Francisco Symphony, David Zinman conducted it and did a beautiful job. But they never did it again and nobody else has ever played it.”
It did, however, generate new commissions and guaranteed publication of his music. In 2017, “The Face of the Night, the Heart of the Dark” was finally recorded, by Boston Modern Orchestra Project, or BMOP.
This year’s Pulitzer Prize winners will be announced on June 11.
Peterson’s obituary in yesterday’s WaPo. He died on April 7.
Peterson’s “The Face of the Night, the Heart of the Dark,” in two movements (so just let it run):
To my knowledge, Ralph Shapey’s “Concerto Fantastique” has yet to be recorded. Here’s “Ontogeny,” from 1958, a considerably earlier work, but I’m posting it here because, like the Pulitzer reject, it’s orchestral.
Ives, Symphony No. 3, “The Camp Meeting”
R.I.P. Wayne Peterson