For distinguished musical composition in the larger forms of chamber, orchestral or choral music, or for an operatic work (including ballet), performed or published during the year by a composer of established residence in the United States, Five hundred dollars ($500).
Vanessa , by Samuel Barber
An opera in four acts, libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. First presented January 15,1958, at the Metropolitan Opera House.
The Jury
The Jury
Winners in Music
Norman Dello Joio
First performed at the Juilliard School of Music on April 20, 1956.
Ernst Toch
First performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, December 2, 1955.
Gian-Carlo Menotti
For an opera first performed at the Broadway Theater, New York, December 27, 1954.
Quincy Porter
First performed by the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, March 17, 1954. This was one of the works commissioned under a grant of the Rockefeller Foundation for new American compositions for orchestra, or soloists and orchestra.
1958 Prize Winners
Douglas Southall Freeman with John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth
Volume VII was finished by Carroll and Ashworth following Freeman's death in 1953. However, the $500 Prize was given to Freeman's estate.
Bruce M. Shanks
For "The Thinker," published on August 10, 1957, depicting the dilemma of union membership when confronted by racketeering leaders in some labor unions.
Harry S. Ashmore
For the forcefulness, dispassionate analysis and clarity of his editorials on the school integration conflict in Little Rock.