Pisendel was born in
Cadolzburg, a small town near
Nuremberg, where his father Simon Pisendel was the
cantor and organist. At the age of nine, Johann Georg became a choirboy at the court chapel of
Ansbach, where the singer
Francesco Antonio Pistocchi was music director, and violinist and composer
Giuseppe Torelli was
concert master. It is thought that Pisendel studied voice with Pistocchi and the violin with Torelli. After his voice broke, Pisendel went on to play the violin in the Court Orchestra in 1704. In 1709, he left Dresden for
Leipzig to further his musical studies. On the way to Leipzig, he met
Johann Sebastian Bach at
Weimar. Pisendel was a member of the
Collegium Musicum founded by
Georg Philipp Telemann, and conducted it in 1710/11, while
Melchior Hoffmann went on a concert tour. In 1711, after he performed at
Darmstadt in an opera by
Christoph Graupner, Pisendel was offered a position in the court orchestra there, but declined. In 1711, he was offered a position as leading violinist at the
Dresden Court Orchestra, which he accepted and began in January 1712. He studied composition there with
Johann David Heinichen. He remained with the Dresden orchestra for the rest of his life. He was sent to represent the culture of Dresden in Europe by Elector
Frederick Augustus II, to Paris in 1714, to Berlin in 1715, and to
Venice in 1716, where he stayed for nine months and studied with
Antonio Vivaldi. In 1730, Pisendel became officially concert master of the Dresden Court Orchestra, a position he had filled already since
Jean-Baptiste Volumier had died in 1728. Pisendel's pupils included
Franz Benda and
Johann Gottlieb Graun. Pisendel died in Dresden. == Work ==