Since its inception in 1917, first as a Traveling Scholarship, then as the Pulitzer Prize in Music since 1943, the Pulitzer awards in music have been representative of America's best composers. Of the fifty two Pulitzer Prizewinning composers, twenty eight have written compositions for viola solo, viola with keyboard, and for viola with orchestra. Also, of the nineteen Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship recipients, three composed works for these instrumentations. "An Annotated Bibliography of Works by Pulitzer Prizewinning Composers for Viola Solo, Viola with Keyboard and Viola with Orchestra" attempts to catalog each Pulitzer Prizewinner's compositions for these instrumentations. It is a collection of information concerning each composition's premiere, publication details, dedication, commission, and availability. It also provides a brief description, a selective bibliography, and a selective discography for each entry. Pulitzer Prizewinning composers' works lists in The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Franz Zeyringer's Literatur für viola, and Henry Barrett's The Viola, along with composer and publisher web pages, recording catalogs, library holdings catalogs, and bibliographies of twentieth-century music were thoroughly searched. Only compositions originally for viola and orchestra, viola and keyboard, or viola solo are included. Some works included are for another instrument or viola, as indicated by the original composer. Transcriptions by someone other than the original composer and works written for another alto clef instrument, but not for the viola, are not included. Descriptions of the compositions included were provided by music critics, prominent viola performers, presidents of composer societies, with some by the composers themselves, or were gleaned from reviews in journals and newspapers, or from performance and recording program notes. Included is a brief history of the Pulitzer Prize in music, from its inception as a traveling scholarship to 2002. A complete list of the Pulitzer Prize in Music winners, Pulitzer Special Award recipients, brief descriptions of some of the controversial awards, and years when no award was given, are all included. Publisher addresses and contact information, along with their instructions concerning the acquisition of out of print, archive, or made to order requests are included as appendices.
