Johann Christoph Pezel (also Petzold), 13 Oct. 1694, was a German violinist, trumpeter, and composer. He lived in Leipzig from 1661 to 1681, with an interruption in 1672, when he entered an Augustinian monastery in Prague, which however he left soon after to become a Protestant. His later years were spent at Bautzen, where (as at Leipzig) he was in municipal employment as Statdpfeifer and Statdmusicus. He was renowned as a violinist and clarino player and published between 1669 and 1686 a considerable number of collections, chiefly of instrumental music, such as ‘Musica vespertina lipsica ’ (1669), ‘Musicalische Seelenerquickungen’ (1675), ‘Deliciae musicales, oder Lutsmusik’ (1678), ‘Musica curiosa lipsiaca’ (1686), etc.; also some sacred vocal music and theoretical works. He was influential in the evolution of instrumental forms and the style of orchestral writing.