MLC 39: O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid

Johann Christian Kittel (1732 –1809) was a German organist, composer, and teacher. He first studied with Jakob Adlung. When he moved to Leipzig in 1748 he became a favourite - and last - pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach until his death two years later. Kittel was appointed organist and teacher at Langensalza in 1751 and returned to Erfurt as organist of the Barfüßerkirche in 1756, moving to the Predigerkirche in 1762. His students included Michael Gotthard Fischer and Christian Heinrich Rinck. Kittel was born and died in Erfurt.

He remained in Erfurt for the rest of his life and refused many generous and more munificent offers, including one in 1790 from Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar to travel to Italy. 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.

Published by Breitkopf & Härtel in “In Ewigkeit dich loben”, Vol. 1