The Pulitzers have an uneven record when it comes to the arts. But this year, writes Terry Teachout, “three of the prizes were deeply and personally satisfying to me.”
Tag: 04.05.04
The Arts Pulitzers
Here’s a list of the books, play and music that won this year’s Pulitzers…
The Online University
“University of Illinois at Springfield officials say they are working toward creating an online ‘mirror campus’ that will offer all 39 of the degree programs that are available in the university’s classrooms. The plan is one of the most ambitious online projects undertaken by a mainstream institution.”
Deborah Voigt On The Public Attention About Her Weight:
“I remember one review where the critic made some comment about my weight but went on to say the tenor – who by the way was a very, very large man – had ‘the shoulders of a linebacker.’ And I thought, What is that? How come I’m heavy and he has the shoulders of a linebacker? So yes, it’s a double standard – and it shouldn’t surprise any women with a professional life.”
Lane And Broderick Finish Producers Run
Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick have finished their second run in Broadway’s “The Producers.” “From its debut in April 2001 until Lane and Broderick left in March 2002, the Mel Brooks show was a perpetual sellout – despite record ticket prices. Sales lagged before the two actors returned late last year as the highest-paid actors in Broadway history. Once again, seats were hard to come by for the show that won a record 12 Tony Awards in June 2001, including Lane as Best Leading Actor in a Musical.”
Denis Stevens, 82 – Musicologist, Monteverdi Scholar
The one-time Grove’s editor was a champion of the music of Monteverdi. “Stevens felt a mission to demonstrate the validity and accessibility of musicology as a discipline, often deploying what one former colleague called a ‘wry and penetrating sense of humour’. He gave it full rein in an essay on the performance of the Monteverdi Vespers, complaining of ‘the cabalistic obscurantism that now surrounds it, fostered by misinformed musicians and pseudo-musicologists’. He had absolutely no time for a misguided veneration of the past.”
Moravec Wins Music Pulitzer
American composer Paul Moravec has won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for music for his “Tempest Fantasy.” Also nominated as finalists in this category were: Piano Concerto No. 3 by Peter Lieberson, and Cello Counterpoint by Steve Reich.
Watch The Robot Conduct Beethoven
Let’s see – we’ve replaced musicians with “virtual orchestras” in theatre pits. And more and more movie scores are being synthesized. What’s next? Conductors. A robot has successfully(?) conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Japan. “The 58-centimetre-tall humanoid robot led the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in a unique rendition of Beethoven’s 5th symphony during a concert held at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo on 15 March.”
Country Song-Writers Fall On Hard Times
Nashville’s country music songwriters are singing the blues these days. “Radio homogenization, corporate mergers and music piracy have made it tough for songwriters to earn a living. ‘We’ve lost more than half of America’s professional songwriters over the past decade. The ones staying alive have really had to adapt.”
What If The Music Industry Is Wrong About Downloads?
The recording industry has been fighting music downloads as piracy, saying that the recording business is being hurt by downloads. But “what if the industry is wrong, and file sharing is not hurting record sales? It might seem counterintuitive, but that is the conclusion reached by two economists who released a draft last week of the first study that makes a rigorous economic comparison of directly observed activity on file-sharing networks and music buying. ‘Downloads have an effect on sales which is statistically indistinguishable from zero, despite rather precise estimates’.”