Lecture: The Avatars of the Prix de Rome
Jérôme Lejeune, musicologist and artistic advisor to the Stavelot Festival
Introduced at the beginning of the 19th century, the Prix de Rome was very often won by musicians whose names will not go down in history. Many of them tried their luck, imagining that this distinction would bring them posterity. Some, like Maurice Ravel, tried several times, but failed to win. And yet, after four unsuccessful attempts, Ravel achieved unparalleled fame. Who were his rivals? Starting with an evocation of this famous competition, this talk will provide a more complete picture of French music in Ravel's time, showing that he was not the only master of orchestration or modernity in his day!