L'enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son) is a scène lyrique, or lyric scene, by Claude Debussy to a text by Édouard Guinand. Scored for soprano, tenor, baritone and piano, it bears the catalog number L.61. Its premiere came on June 27, 1884, in Paris in the composition category of the Prix de Rome competition, which it handily won with Debussy receiving 22 out of 28 votes; the vocal soloists were Rose Caron (Lia), Ernest Van Dyck (Azaël) and Émile-Alexandre Taskin (Siméon). Debussy's prize included a three-year (1885-1887) Académie des Beaux-Arts scholastic residency at the Villa Medici.
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