Alfred001
05-17-2018, 04:49 AM
The recent Pulitzer Prize win by a rapper got me thinking, does what is considered high and what is considered low in art change over time? I'm too young and underread to be able to answer this question.
The thing that comes to mind is the fact that Duke Ellington was denied a Pulitzer Prize, IIRC, on the grounds that he was a jazz composer and not a classical composer. Ellington was quoted as saying: "I'm hardly surprised that my kind of music is still without, let us say, official honor at home. Most Americans still take it for granted that European-based music—classical music, if you will—is the only really respectable kind." Since then, AFAIK, Wynton Marsallis and Ornette Coleman have won the prize and there have been a few special citations awarded to jazz musicians.
So my question is, are you aware of any examples (besides the one I mentioned, which may be arguable) of clear changes in terms of what is regarded high and low in art?
The thing that comes to mind is the fact that Duke Ellington was denied a Pulitzer Prize, IIRC, on the grounds that he was a jazz composer and not a classical composer. Ellington was quoted as saying: "I'm hardly surprised that my kind of music is still without, let us say, official honor at home. Most Americans still take it for granted that European-based music—classical music, if you will—is the only really respectable kind." Since then, AFAIK, Wynton Marsallis and Ornette Coleman have won the prize and there have been a few special citations awarded to jazz musicians.
So my question is, are you aware of any examples (besides the one I mentioned, which may be arguable) of clear changes in terms of what is regarded high and low in art?