Friedrich Wilhelm Kücken

A popular German song-writer. Young Kücken, however, studied with his brother-in-law, Lührss, and with Aron at Schwerin, where he played in the Duke's Orchestra. His first efforts in composition were so favourably received that he was hired as a teacher in the Royal family, but his ambitions led him to Berlin in 1832, where he studied with Birnbach, and in 1839 successfully brought out his first opera, The Flight to Switzerland.

In 1841 he studied with Sechter at Vienna, and in 1843 directed the festival of male singers at St. Gall. He then studied three years at Paris under Halevy and Bordogni, after which he returned to Germany and produced another successful opera, The Pretender. In 1851 he accepted a position as chapelmaster at Stuttgart, and kept it until 1861. He died at Schwerin.