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Home in Rome

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As a winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome, young Claude Debussy earned the opportunity to further his musical development at the Villa Medici, but the honor was in some ways a setback.

Before he even got to Rome, Debussy was homesick for Paris, and the villa’s vast view of the city did little to lighten his spirits. His assigned room was so austere that it was known as “the Etruscan Tomb,” and the work also left him cold because he was expected to compose in a style not his own.

Debussy’s prime objective was to get back to Paris as soon as possible.

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And yet he did find kindred spirits in Rome–two sixteenth-century composers. On November 24, 1885, he wrote of them to a friend:

I have to tell you about the one time I went out this month. I went to hear two masses, one by Palestrina, the other by Orlando di Lasso at a church called S. Mari dell’Anima. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it. It’s tucked away in a maze of wretched little streets…The Anima is the only place to hear that kind of music, which is the only church music I can tolerate. That of Gounod and company seems to me to come from a hysterical mysticism and comes across like a sinister farce.

The two aforementioned people are masters, especially Orlando, who is more decorative and more human than Palestrina. The effects they produce entirely from their extensive knowledge of counterpoint are spectacular accomplishments. You probably aren’t aware that counterpoint is the most formidable aspect of music. In their work, though, it’s wonderful because it’s made to underline the significance of the words and brings out their incredible depths; and sometimes there are winding melodic lines evocative of illuminated manuscripts and ancient missives.

Debussy referred to the discovery of Palestrina and di Lasso as the only time when “the lord of musical feeling came to life in me again.”

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