Frantz Jehin-Prume

Frantz Jehin-Prume (an engraving by Edmond-Joseph Massicotte )

François-Henri Jehin , who called himself Frantz Jehin-Prume in memory of his uncle , (born April 18, 1839 in Spa , † May 29, 1899 in Montreal ) was a Belgian violinist and composer .

Life

Jehin grew up as the grandson of a family of organists and began taking violin lessons at the age of four, which he continued at the Liège Conservatory in the class of his uncle François Prume . After his death in 1849 he took on the double name. He then went to the Brussels Conservatory in the violin class of Hubert Léonard . He received lessons in harmony from François-Joseph Fétis . He also took courses with important violinists of his time, such as Charles de Bériot , Henryk Wieniawski and Henri Vieuxtemps . After concerts in his hometown, Brussels and Liège, he toured Germany, Poland, Austria and from 1855 to 1857 Russia, where he performed in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Back in Belgium he devoted himself more to composition and gave numerous concerts in Holland, Belgium and France. For a few months in 1862 he was the first solo violinist at the Liège “Théâtre royal”, in the same year he went on a tour of Germany and Scandinavia. As the successor to his teacher de Bériot, the Belgian King Leopold I appointed him in 1863 to the «Violoniste de la musique particulière du roi».

At the invitation of Emperor Maximilian, who had married the daughter of the Belgian king, he traveled to Mexico, where he gave several concerts in the Imperial Theater. Fearing the raging power struggles in Mexico at the time, he traveled through stops in Brazil and Cuba to New York, where he arrived in 1865. Shortly after this arrival he traveled with his compatriot from Liège, the violinist and conductor Jules Hone (1833–1913), to fish and hunt in Canada. Here he was immediately invited to several concerts, where he met the singer Rosita del Vecchio, whom he married on July 17, 1866. Countless concerts followed in his new home and in the USA, including in 1867 at the invitation of the American President to the White House.

Jehin-Prume settled in Montreal and had a significant impact on the city's nascent musical life. 1869–70 he went on a concert tour through Canada and the USA with the pianist Théodore Ritter and the singer Carlotta Patti . The sudden death of his wife shortly after the stillbirth of a son weighed on him, nevertheless he married the young singer Hortense Leduc in 1882 and continued his concert activities in the various provinces of the country.

He and his young wife returned to Europe in 1882 for a final tour of Belgium and France. From 1885 he devoted himself mainly to teaching and founded in 1892 with fellow musicians the "Artistic Association of Montreal", the first professional artists' association in the province of Quebec.

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He devoted himself to the composition with a lot of enthusiasm. In an artistic curriculum vitae, which most likely comes from the pen of his eldest son, no fewer than 88 opus numbers are listed that were written between 1857 and his death. He composed most of his works for violin, including the two violin concertos op. 14 and op. 31, fantasies, polonaisees, mazurkas, cappriccios and etudes, as well as a violin sonata with piano accompaniment op. 64. He also wrote cadenzas for violin concertos by Viotti, Beethoven and de Bériot. In addition, he composed many melodies and romances for voice and piano, numerous choral works and a Pope Leo XIII. dedicated oratorio. The Schott publishing house published some of his works.

Of the around 95 works ascribed to him, only around 20 are currently in the Canadian National Library and the Music Library of the University of Montreal.

Web link

• Helmut Kallmann : Frantz Jehin-Prume. In: Dictionnaire biographique du Canada, Vol. XII (1891–1900). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cécile Huot, Jacques-André Houle: Frantz Jehin-Prume ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia . March 4, 2015. Accessed August 21, 2016.