Christian Petzold (composer)

Christian Petzold (1677 – 1733) was a German composer and organist. He was active primarily in Dresden, Electorate of Saxony, and achieved a high reputation during his lifetime, but his surviving works are few. It was established in the 1970s that the famous Minuet in G major, previously attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, was in fact the work of Petzold. The sprightly melody was used in the 1965 pop music hit “A Lover’s Concerto” by the American group The Toys. Life Petzold was born in Weißig near Königstein at some stage in 1677; his exact date of birth is unknown. From 1703, he worked as an organist at St. Sophia (Sophienkirche) in Dresden, and in 1709 he became court chamber composer and organist. He led an active musical life, giving concert tours that took him as far as Paris (1714) and Venice (1716). In 1720, he wrote a piece for the consecration of the new Silbermann organ at St. Sophia, and he performed a similar task at Rötha, near Leipzig, where another Silbermann organ was built. He was also active as a teacher. His pupils included Carl Heinrich Graun. Petzold died on 25 May 1733 and was buried three days later. His cause of death was recorded in the Dresden Kirchenwoc