Christian Gottlob Neefe (pronounced as /de/; 5 February 1748 - 28 January 1798) was a German opera composer and conductor. He was known as one of the first teachers of Ludwig van Beethoven.
Neefe was born in Chemnitz, Saxony. He received a musical education and started to compose at the age of 12. He studied law at Leipzig University, but subsequently returned to music to become a pupil of the composer Johann Adam Hiller under whose guidance he wrote his first comic operas.
In 1776 Neefe joined the Seyler theatrical company of Abel Seyler (then) in Dresden, and inherited the position of musical director from his mentor, Hiller. He later became court organist in Bonn and was the principal piano teacher of Ludwig van Beethoven. He helped Beethoven produce some of his first works. His best known work was a Singspiel called Adelheit von Veltheim (1780). In Bonn, Neefe became prefect of the local chapter of the Illuminati, the . He died in Dessau.
| Title | Genre | Subdivisions | Libretto | Première date | Place, theatre | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Der Dorfbarbier (with Johann Adam Hiller) | komische Operette | 1 act | Christian Felix Weiße, after Michel-Jean Sedaine's Blaise le savetier | 18 April 1771 | Leipzig, Rannstädter Thore | |
| Die Apotheke | komische Oper | 2 acts | Johann Jacob Engel | 13 December 1771 | Berlin, Theater in der Behrenstrasse | |
| Amors Guckkasten | 1 act | Johann Benjamin Michaelis | 10 May 1772 | Leipzig | ||
| Die Einsprüche | komische Oper | 1 act | Johann Benjamin Michaelis | late 1772 | Leipzig, Rannstädter Thore | |
| Zemire und Azor | komische Oper | 4 acts | 5 March 1776 | Leipzig (Koberwein Company) | ||
| Heinrich und Lyda | Drama | 1 act | Bernhard Christian d'Arien | 26 March 1776 | Berlin, (Döbbelin Company) | |
| Sophonisbe | musikaliches Drama | 1 act | August Gottlieb Meissner | 12 October 1776 | Leipzig | |
| Die Zigeuner | Lustspiel mit gesang | 5 acts | November 1777 | Frankfurt | ||
| Adelheit von Veltheim | 4 acts | Frankfurt, Junghof | ||||
| Der neue Gutsherr | 3 acts | Johann Gottfried Dyck and Johann Friedrich Jünger, after Marivaux's Le paysan parvenu | unperformed |