 On 27 January 1858 Bizet arrived at the Villa Medici , a 16th @-@ century palace that since 1803 had housed the French Académie in Rome and which he described in a letter home as " paradise " . Under its director , the painter Jean @-@ Victor <unk> , the villa provided an ideal environment in which Bizet and his fellow @-@ laureates could pursue their artistic endeavours . Bizet relished the convivial atmosphere , and quickly involved himself in the distractions of its social life ; in his first six months in Rome his only composition was a Te Deum written for the Rodrigues Prize , a competition for a new religious work open to Prix de Rome winners . This piece failed to impress the judges , who awarded the prize to Adrien Barthe , the only other entrant . Bizet was discouraged to the extent that he vowed to write no more religious music . His Te Deum remained forgotten and unpublished until 1971 . 
