Born in 1741 in Blasewitz, near Dresden, Johann Gottlieb Naumann was from Saxony. The Dresden court was traditionally one of the strongholds of Italian music in Germany, which allowed Naumann to come into contact with the style from beyond the Alps from an early age. In 1757, aged sixteen, he left for Italy with Swedish violinist Anders Wesström. In 1762 he met Giuseppe Tartini, who gave him some lessons. After debuting as an operatic composer in Venice in 1762 with Il tesoro insidiato, and after living in Italy for some time, he returned to Dresden where, thanks to Johann Adolph Hasse, he was hired as second church composer. He would return to Italy twice, in 1765–1768 and 1772–1774, to have his operas staged. After working for some time in Sweden and Denmark, he went back to Dresden, where he died in 1801.

As a composer, he was a renowned author of operas, and of sacred music and oratorios; it is in the latter capacity that, today, he is mostly remembered, for he is the author of the famous Dresden Amen used both by Felix Mendelssohn in his Reformation Symphony and Richard Wagner in Parsifal. Naumann also composed a fair number of instrumental works, among them Six Ouvertures italiennes in three movements.