Carl Friedrich AbelPortrait of Carl Friedrich Abel by Thomas Gainsborough, 1777Carl FriedrichAbel(December 22,172!"une2#,17$7% &as aGermancom'oser of theClassical era( (The Chambers )iogra'hical Dictionarygi*es his year of birth as 172+(% ,e &as afine 'layer on the *iola da gamba, and com'osed im'ortant music for that instrument(Abel &as born in C-then, the son ofChristian Ferdinand Abel, the 'rinci'al*iola da gambaandcello 'layer in the court orchestra of "ohann .ebastian )ach( There is no 'roof that Abel studied atThomasschule/ei'0ig, but it &ason)ach1srecommendationthat in172$he&asableto3oin"ohann Adol'h ,asse1s court orchestra atDresden&here he remained for ten years( 4n 17+5 (or17+$accordingtoChambers%, he &ent to6nglandandbecame chamber7musicianto8ueenCharlotte( ,e ga*e a concert of his o&n com'ositions in /ondon, 'erforming on *ariousinstruments, one of &hich &as a fi*e7string cello 9no&n as a 'entachord, &hich had been recentlyin*ented by "ohn "ose'h :erlin( 4n 17;2, "ohann Christian )ach, the ele*enth son of "ohann .ebastian )ach, 3oined him in /ondon,and the friendshi' bet&een him and Abel led, in 17;2 or 17;+, to the establishment of the famous)ach7Abel concerts, 6ngland1s first subscri'tion concerts( 4n those concerts, many celebrated guestartists a''eared, and the &or9s of ,aydn recei*ed their first 6nglish 'erformance(For ten years the concerts &ere organi0ed by :rs( Teresa Cornelys, a retired ooms in.oho( Throughout his life he had en3oyed e?cessi*e li*ing, and his drin9ing 'robably hastened hisdeath, &hich occurred in /ondon on "une 2#, 17$7(@ne of the most &idely 9no&n &or9s of Abel became famous due to a misattributionA in the 15thcentury, a manuscri't sym'hony in the hand of Bolfgang Amadeus :o0art, &as catalogued as hisSymphony no. 3 in E flat, C( 1$, and &as 'ublished as such in the first com'lete edition of :o0art1s&or9s by )reit9o'f D ,Ertel( /ater, it &as disco*ered that this sym'hony &as actually the &or9 ofAbel, co'ied by the boy :o0art77e*idently for study 'ur'oses77&hile he &as *isiting /ondon in17;2( That sym'hony &as originally 'ublished as the concluding &or9 in Abel1s Six Symphonies,Op. 7. Edit Selected works by opus number @'( 1A ; @*ertures or .infonias (17;1% @'( 2A ; .onatas for Ceyboard and