Franz Hünten
Encyclopedia
Franz Hünten, often billed as François Hünten (26 December 1793 — 22 February 1878), was a German pianist and composer of light music.
He was born in Koblenz
, the son of the organist Daniel Hünten
, who taught Henri Herz
. Like Herz he moved to Paris
and entered its Conservatorium
in 1819. He wrote pleasant and technically undemanding piano music: rondos, fantasies, variations, dances, etc. His first success was Variations militaires à 4 mains, op. 12, a simple imitation of Ignaz Moscheles
's variations on the Alexandermarsch, and soon his popularity was such that for one work of ten pages he was paid 2000 francs. Two years after publishing the instruction book Nouvelle méthode pour le piano-forte, op. 60 (1833), he moved back to Koblenz, where he continued to compose; he moved back to Paris after a few years but retired for good in 1848.
Hünten's music was wildly popular throughout France, Germany, and England, but critical notices inevitably described it as trifling and later assessments have been much the same. His son, Emil Hünten
, was a painter.
He was born in Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, the son of the organist Daniel Hünten
Daniel Hünten
Daniel Hünten was a German organist, guitarist and composer.He was baptised on 3 September 1760, probably one to three days after his birth. In 1784 Hünten was engaged as an organist at the court chapel of Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony in Koblenz...
, who taught Henri Herz
Henri Herz
Henri Herz was a pianist and composer, Austrian by birth, and French by domicile.Herz was born Heinrich Herz in Vienna...
. Like Herz he moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and entered its Conservatorium
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
in 1819. He wrote pleasant and technically undemanding piano music: rondos, fantasies, variations, dances, etc. His first success was Variations militaires à 4 mains, op. 12, a simple imitation of Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
's variations on the Alexandermarsch, and soon his popularity was such that for one work of ten pages he was paid 2000 francs. Two years after publishing the instruction book Nouvelle méthode pour le piano-forte, op. 60 (1833), he moved back to Koblenz, where he continued to compose; he moved back to Paris after a few years but retired for good in 1848.
Hünten's music was wildly popular throughout France, Germany, and England, but critical notices inevitably described it as trifling and later assessments have been much the same. His son, Emil Hünten
Emil Hünten
Emil Johannes Hünten was a German military painter.-Biography:Born in Paris on January 19, 1827, the son of the composer, Franz Hünten, he studied art under H. Flandrin and Horace Vernet at the Ecole des Beaux Arts...
, was a painter.