Hélène Fleury-Roy
Hélène-Gabrielle Fleury-Roy (21 June 1876 – 18 April 1957) was a French composer and the first woman to win a prize in the Prix de Rome for composition. She was born in Carlepont, Oise, and studied at the Paris Conservatory with Henri Dallier, Charles-Marie Widor and André Gedalge. In the late 1890s she lived in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. She won a prize in 1899 with Symphony Allegro for organ.
In 1903 she became the first woman admitted to the Prix de Rome competition. On her first try she failed the fugue, but the following year she won with the cantata Medora (libretto by Édouard Adenis) for two male voices and one female voice. She also received a third prize in the Grand Prix.
She married Louis Roy, a professor of mechanics at the University of Toulouse, around 1906 and lived in Paris. In 1928 she became a professor at the Conservatory of Toulouse, teaching harmony, composition and piano. Her students included conductor Louis Auriacombe, composer Charles Chaynes and violinist Pierre Dukan.
Fleury-Roy died in Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne, aged 80. Her music includes songs, piano pieces, and works for violin, cello and organ, as well as a piano quartet.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 12:04 (CET).