Johann Gottlieb Naumann
Biography
Johann Gottlieb Naumann (17 April 1741 – 23 October 1801) was a German composer, conductor and Kapellmeister.
Johann Gottlieb Naumann received his musical training from the teachers at his town school, where he was instructed in piano and organ. Later, he studied at the Kreuzschule in Dresden and was a member of the Dresden Kreuzchor. In Dresden he was taught by the organist and cantor of the Kreuzschule, Gottfried August Homilius, a student of Bach. In May 1757, he traveled to Italy with the Swedish violinist Anders Wesström. The composer Giuseppe Tartini encountered Naumann in 1762 and took an interest in his work. Later that year, he made his debut as an opera composer in Venice with Il tesoro insidiato. Following his successful 1764 production of Li creduti spiriti, he was engaged as the second church composer at the Dresden court, on the composer Johann Adolf Hasse's recommendation.
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In 1777, as a result of negotiations by Swedish diplomat Count Löwenhjelm, Naumann was appointed to reform the Stockholm Hovkapell and assist King Gustavus III in his opera plans. His work in Sweden led to the 1782 production of his opera Cora och Alonzo at the inauguration of the new opera house in Stockholm and the 1786 production of Gustaf Wasa, based on an idea of the king for a Royal Swedish Opera. After a brief period as a guest composer in Copenhagen (1785-6), he returned to Dresden where he became Oberkapellmeister. In 1792 he married Catarina von Grodtschilling, daughter of a Danish vice-admiral
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