Unfortunately, no biographical details can be found about the hornist P. Melchior. Four of his composed works survive in print: the "Trois Grands Duos concertants pour premier et second cor" op.2 (ROM 180), the "Trois Duos concertants pour deux cors" op.3 (ROM 201), and a third volume with three more duos, op.4 (ROM 178). Opus 4 is dedicated to "Monsieur le Comte Cormiev du Medic", who appears to have been involved in French military music; on the print he is described as "Capitaine commandant au troisième Régiment de la Garde Royale". The op.3 duos are dedicated to his friend F. Roussot.
P. Melchior's biography is illuminated a little further by another print — presumably his first published work, without an opus number (ROM 179): the "Trois Grands Trios concertants pour trois cors en mi". These trios are dedicated to Frederic Duvernoy, "par son Élève" P. Melchior. Melchior therefore probably studied in Paris at the Conservatoire under Duvernoy.
The hornist Frederic Duvernoy (1765–1838) belonged to that founding generation which established the fame of the French hornists and passed it on through their own schools. Duvernoy was born in Montbéliard on 16 October 1765 and joined the orchestra of the Comédie-Italienne as a hornist in 1788. In 1797 he moved to the Paris Opéra, where he became solo hornist from 1799. In 1801 he, along with other principal wind players, was released from regular opera duty in order to devote himself more fully to solo work. Already from 1795 he had also been a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire de Musique, alongside up to eight other hornists at times. Duvernoy established the "cor mixte" style of playing, in which he favoured the almost exclusive use of the horn's middle register. Duvernoy retired in 1816 and died on 19 July 1838 in Paris. On the print he is described as "Chevalier de l'Ordre Royal de la Légion d'Honneur, 1er Cor récitant de la Chapelle et de la Chambre du Roi".
All three of P. Melchior's printed works can therefore be assumed to have appeared after 1815. The trios were published by the Paris firm Henry Lemoine in cooperation with the Paris publisher David. The two duo editions, op.2 and op.4, were published by David alone, while op.3 was published by Dufaut et Dubois.
