(No award given for years not listed)


1943
Secular Cantata No. 2 - A Free Song
William Schuman

1944
Symphony No. 4 (Op. 34)
Howard Hanson

1945
Appalachian Spring
Aaron Copland

1946
The Canticle of the Sun
Leo Sowerby

1947
Symphony No. 3
Charles Ives

1948
Symphony No. 3
Walter Piston

1949
Louisiana Story music
Virgil Thomson

1950
The Consul
Gian Carlo Menotti

1951
Music for opera Giants in the Earth
Douglas Stuart Moore

1952
Symphony Concertante
Gail Kubik

1954
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
Quincy Porter

1955
The Saint of Bleecker Street
Gian Carlo Menotti

1956
Symphony No. 3
Ernst Toch

1957
Meditations on Ecclesiastes
Norman Dello Joio

1958
Vanessa
Samuel Barber

1959
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
John La Montaine

1960
Second String Quartet
Elliott Carter

1961
Symphony No. 7
Walter Piston

1962
The Crucible
Robert Ward

1963
Piano Concerto No. 1
Samuel Barber

1966
Variations for Orchestra
Leslie Bassett

1967
Quartet No. 3
Leon Kirchner

1968
Echoes of Time and the River
George Crumb

1969
String Quartet No. 3
Karel Husa

1970
Time's Encomium
Charles Wuorinen

1971
Synchronisms No. 6 for Piano and Electronic Sound
Mario Davidowsky

1972
Windows
Jacob Druckman

1973
String Quartet No. 3
Elliott Carter

1974
Notturno
Donald Martino

1975
From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
Dominick Argento

1976
Air Music
Ned Rorem

1977
Visions of Terror and Wonder
Richard Wernick

1978
Déjà Vu for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra
Michael Colgrass

1979
Aftertones of Infinity
Joseph Schwantner

1980
In Memory of a Summer Day
David Del Tredici

1982
Concerto for Orchestra
Roger Sessions

1983
Three Movements for Orchestra
Ellen T. Zwilich

1984
Canti del Sole
Bernard Rands

1985
Symphony River Run
Stephen Albert

1986
Wind Quintet IV
George Perle

1987
The Flight Into Egypt
John Harbison

1988
12 New Etudes for Piano
William Bolcom

1989
Whispers Out of Time
Roger Reynolds

1990
Duplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
Mel Powell

1991
Symphony
Shulamit Ran

1992
The Face of the Night, The Heart of the Dark
Wayne Peterson

1993
Trombone Concerto
Christopher Rouse

1994
Of Reminiscences and Reflections
Gunther Schuller

1995
Stringmusic
Morton Gould

1996
Lilacs
George Walker

1997
Blood on the Field
Wynton Marsalis

1998
String Quartet No. 2 - Musica Instrumentalis
Aaron Jay Kernis

1999
Concerto for Flute - Strings and Percussion
Melinda Wagner

2000
Life Is a Dream - Opera in Three Acts: Act II
Concert Version
Lewis Spratlan

2001
Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra
John Corigliano

2002
Ice Field
Harry Brant

2003
On the Transmigration of Souls
John Adams