Johann Christoph Pez

Johann Christoph Pez, also Petz, (9 September 1664 – 25 September 1716) was a German Baroque musician, Kapellmeister, and composer who worked in the courts of the Electorate of Bavaria and Duchy of Württemberg. Life Pez was born in Munich. From 1676, he was the tower watchman and later the choir director at the Church of Saint Peter in Munich. In 1688, he became a musician at the court of prince Maximilian Emmanuel, Elector of Bavaria who offered him the opportunity to study music under the leading Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli in Rome. In 1694, Pez joined the court of Joseph Clemens, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne at his residence in Bonn, working to improve the prince’s chapel orchestra. In 1695, he became Kapellmeister and advisor to the prince. Returning to Munich in 1701, he remained for five years at the court’s chapel for five years, before Max Emmanuel sent him to study composition and violin in Rome in the 1690s. He also taught the Wittelsbach children music. While in Munich, Pez was notice by the Duke of Württemberg, Eberhard Louis in the winter of 1705–06. This meant that when Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor dismissed the entire Bavarian Hofkapelle by Imperial fiat in