A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Prume, François

PRUME, François Hubert, violinist, was born in 1816 at Stavelot near Liège. Having received his first instruction at Malmédy, he entered in 1827 the newly opened Conservatoire at Liège, and in 1830 that at Paris, where he studied for two years under Habeneck. Returning to Liège he was appointed professor at the Conservatoire, although only seventeen years of age. In 1839 he began to travel, and visited with much success Germany, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries. He died in 1849 at Stavelot. Prume was an elegant virtuoso, with most of the characteristic qualities of the modern Franco-Belgian school. He is chiefly remembered as the composer of 'La Melancholie' a sentimental pièce de salon which for a time attained an extraordinary popularity, without however possessing the artistic worth of the rest of Prume's compositions.

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