Editing Paul Paray (section)

===Prix de Rome and First World War===
In 1911 Paray competed for France's most prestigious musical prize, the [[Prix de Rome]], and was awarded first prize for his cantata ''Yanitza'' by a jury that included [[Gabriel Fauré]] – director of the Conservatoire – and other composers including [[Camille Saint-Saëns]]. [[Charles-Marie Widor]] and [[Gabriel Pierné]].<ref name=dp/> Paray won the first prize with nineteen out of twenty votes.<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6429431/f5.item.r=%22Paul%20Paray%22.zoom/f5n1.texteBrut "Le prix de Rome de musique"], ''L'Ouest-Éclair'', 2 July 1911, p. 5</ref>

The Prix de Rome brought with it two years' residence and study at the [[Villa Medici]], the [[French Academy in Rome]]. Shortly after his return to Paris the [[First World War]] broke out and Paray was conscripted into the French army.<ref name=grove/> He was taken prisoner after two months' fighting and held in an internment camp at [[Darmstadt]] until the end of the war in 1918.<ref name=dp/> He refused any musical collaboration with the Germans and he had no instrument, except for the modest [[harmonium]] he played on Sundays, to accompany the two religious services for Catholic and Protestant prisoners. Denied paper, he composed in his head, and after the war he transcribed the string quartet he had conceived while a prisoner.<ref name=pp>Cabon, Jean. [http://www.paulparay.com/paray_biographie.html "Paul Paray (1886-1979)"],  Cercle  Paul Paray. Retrieved 9 November 2024</ref>