Johann Georg Pisendel was born on the 26th December 1687 in Cadolzburg where his father was Cantor.

At the age of ten he joined the Ansbach court chapel as a chorister; by sixteen he was a violinist in the court orchestra and studying violin with Torelli.

Pisendel's and Telemann's friendship lasted until Pisendel's death on which Telemann published an ode in honour of his friend.

Telemann appears to have sent works directly to Pisendel for a number of years.

In 1712 Pisendel joined the Dresden Hofkapelle as a violinist; he remained in service at Dresden until his death in 1755.

His duties meant that he was amongst the musicians who accompanied the Crown Prince on the Grand Tour, visiting France (1714), Berlin (1715) and Venice (1716/7).

Whilst in Italy he also studied with Montanari in Rome and travelled to Naples and other Italian cities.

He re-visited Venice in 1717 and renewed his friendship and study with Vivaldi.

While in Venice Pisendel collected a large quantity of manuscripts containing the latest works available and particularly those of Vivaldi; after 1718 Pisendel's trips abroad became less frequent.

His compositional legacy, no doubt due to his performance duties is small but of a high quality.

His remaining compositions show his experience in Italy to be influential and unsuprisingly are dominated by works for the violin, notably seven violin concerti and sonata's for solo violin.

Pisendel's influence through teaching, his most famous pupils being Franz Benda and Johann Gottleib Graun must have also been significant particularly with respect to the court of Frederick the Great.