Editing Ned Rorem (section)

===1974–1999: Pulitzer and Curtis===
{{quote box|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|width=22em|align=right|quote=When I got the Pulitzer, everything changed overnight. Of course, I was shocked because I thought I would never get it because of my wicked ways. To this day I can't believe those stuffy Pulitzer people would settle on me. But it sort of gives you a certain authority. My name is now always preceded by "Pulitzer Prize-winning composer."{{nbsp}}... So if I die in a whorehouse, at least the [[obit]] will say, "Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Ned Rorem Dies in Whorehouse."|source=Rorem in the ''[[Hartford Courant]]''{{sfn|Metcalf|1993}}}}

In 1974 Rorem and Holmes bought a summer house in [[Nantucket]], Massachusetts.{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} His time there was generally peaceful and he later remarked that "I wrote ''Air Music'', made pies, felt no competition, was content".{{sfn|McDonald|1989|p=11}} There Rorem worked on seven different commissions concurrently between 1974 and 1975 for the [[American Bicentennial]].{{sfn|Ewen|1982|p=542}} One of these was ''[[Air Music|Air Music: Ten Etudes for Orchestra]]'' for [[Thomas Schippers]] with the [[Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra]], where each movement was limited to different combinations of instruments.{{sfn|Ewen|1982|p=542}}{{refn|Aside from ''Air Music'', the other six [[American Bicentennial]] commissions were ''Assembly and Fall''; ''Book of Hours''; ''8 Piano Etudes''; ''Serenade''; ''Sky Music''; and ''Women's Voices''.{{sfn|McDonald|1989|p=10}}|group=n}} ''Air Music'' would win the [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] in 1976;{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 6}} Rorem later noted his surprise from the award, having been convinced that his music would not be accepted by "those stuffy Pulitzer people".{{sfn|Metcalf|1993}} Other major works of this time include the 1977 orchestral suite ''Sunday Morning'', inspired by the [[Sunday Morning (poem)|poem of the same name]] by [[Wallace Stevens]].{{sfn|Ewen|1982|p=543}}

Rorem accepted his third teaching post in 1980 at the Curtis Institute, his alma mater, where he headed the composition department with [[David Loeb (composer)|David Loeb]] until 2001.{{sfn|McDonald|1989|p=11}}{{sfn|Curtis|2018}} His students at Curtis included [[Daron Hagen]] and [[David_Horne_(composer)|David Horne]];{{sfn|Page|2022}} outside of Curtis, he taught [[Roger Briggs]].{{sfn|SCI|1998}} During this time, Rorem's pace of composition did not diminish.{{sfn|McDonald|1989|p=12}} He wrote compositions for varied genres, including ''The Santa Fe Songs'' (1980) song cycle for baritone and [[piano quartet]] and the ''String Symphony'' (1985), a recording of which by the [[Atlanta Symphony Orchestra]] won the 1989 [[Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance|Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Recording]].{{sfn|Ewen|1982|p=543}}{{sfn|Lewis|2022}}

In 1993, Rorem wrote the [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Rorem)|Piano Concerto No. 4 for Left Hand and Orchestra]] for his Curtis colleague with an injured right hand, [[Gary Graffman]].{{sfn|Oestreich|1994}} The following year, his earlier opera ''Miss Julie'' was revived at the [[Manhattan School of Music]] Opera Theater.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 8}} For the 1997 [[New York Festival of Song]], Rorem wrote the large-scale song cycle ''Evidence of Things Not Seen'',{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 8}} described as his "masterwork" by Daniel Lewis in the ''Times''.{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} A deeply personal work, the composition included settings of 36 texts by 24 poets, split into three larger sections: "Beginnings" for optimistic and forward-looking songs, "Middles" exploring [[coming of age]] and the devastation of war, as well as the final "Ends" that concerns death, particularly Rorem's friends killed by AIDS.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 8}} With an hour and a half duration, it called for a soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone with piano accompaniment.{{sfn|Page|2022}} The music critic [[Peter G. Davis]] called it "one of the musically richest, most exquisitely fashioned, most voice-friendly collections of songs",{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} while Rorem himself lauded it as his best work.{{sfn|Page|2022}} His partner Holmes died in 1999, after having lived with Rorem for 32 years.{{sfn|Lewis|2022}}