Franz Hünten

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 brothers, Wilhelm Hünten, a piano teacher in Koblenz, and Peter Ernst Hünten, a piano teacher in Duisburg, also composed piano music of a similar character. His son, Emil Hünten, was a painter.

• Name — Franz Hünten • Born — 26 December 1793 • Died — 22 February 1878 • Other Names — François • Occupation — Composer and piano teacher • Children — Emil Hünten • Father — Daniel Hünten