What budding French composer would have been able to resist the allure of spending some years in Rome, staying at the Villa Medici, at the expense of the state? The Prix de Rome, originally set up for painters and sculptors by Louis XIV, was extended to musicians in the early nineteenth century and became the jewel in the crown of prizes awarded by the Paris Conservatoire. 

Ravel

Such a glamorous accolade was not without controversy, especially in Ravel’s case. As a student of Fauré, Ravel entered the competition five times, progressing only to second place with his cantata Myrrha in 1901. As the new century dawned, Ravel was producing some of his most visionary and enduring works, including the String Quartet, the piano piece Jeux d’eau and the song cycle Shéhérazade. Such works stretched far beyond the formal academic styles required by the competition: first a fugue and a choral overture, then a tightly organised cantata. 

Ravel’s final attempt in 1905 saw him fail the first round, leading to public outrage and “the Ravel affair” which...