At the Villa Medici

The great fear of the composers at the Villa Medici was that they would be forgotten by the Parisian public and return to France at the end of their stay with no hope for commissions or performances. The composition of mélodies, in this context, seemed a means of maintaining a link with publishers and the public. Usually written on the fringes of their statutory duties and hidden from the directors, who frowned upon residents who capitalized on their talent, these pieces appear as diversions from the composers’ imposed work, a space of freedom where their youth became their greatest asset.