Biography
Kittel was born and died in Erfurt. He first studied with Jakob Adlung. He moved to Leipzig in 1748 and was a favourite pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach until his death two years later. He was appointed organist and teacher in Langensalza in 1751, following which he returned to Erfurt as organist of the Barfüßerkirche, in 1756, moving to the Predigerkirche in 1762.
He refused many generous and more munificent offers, including one in 1790 from Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar to travel to Italy, remaining in Erfurt for the rest of his life. He played many evening recitals there and was famous as a virtuoso organist; Goethe, Herder, and Wieland all went to hear him play, and he made a concert tour to Hamburg in 1800, remaining there for a year while preparing a book of chorales for Schleswig-Holstein.
Read more about this topic: Johann Christian Kittel
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