Eugène Ketterer

Eugène Ketterer (7 July 1831 – 18 December 1870) was a prolific French composer and pianist who was known for his numerous salon arrangements of contemporary opera arias.

Born in Rouen, France, of an originally Alsatian family, Ketterer became a student at the Paris Conservatoire in his early youth, where he studied with Antoine François Marmontel.

After his graduation until his death in Paris in 1870, he appeared constantly as a pianist winning wide repute for his fantasies and drawing-room pieces, of which he wrote a large number, but only a few of which are still in the repertoire.

Hervé Lacombe classifies Ketterer among the authors of what he calls derivative products, referring to all the scores of varying degrees of quality drawn (by other composers) from fashionable operas and which "testify to uses proper to the 19th century and to the extraordinary hold operas had on the French musical world" (page 1034).

For Lacombe, Ketterer "mass-produced pieces used to shine in salons and concert halls and provide the consumer with nice airs skilfully arranged" (page 1045).