Lili Boulanger French Composer First Woman Awarded the Prix de Rome

Lili Boulanger was immensely talented French composer who died a most untimely death in 1918. She was 24. Boulanger was from a family of musically inclined people. Her father was awarded the Prix de Rome and her sister Nadia had competed for it on two separate occasions. Lili was triumphant in 1913. The award was most coveted and distinguished among artists and composers. Among it previous winners were Claude Debussy and Hector Berlioz.