Josef Mysliveček was born near Prague. He was a twin. His father was a miller who had quite a lot of money. After he left school he became a miller in the family business. He also studied music. He had already been a chorister in the choir of St Michal’s church where Felix Benda was choirmaster. From 1760 he studied counterpoint with František Habermann and organ with Josef Seger. He started to compose. He wrote six sinfonias which were called after the first six months of the year (in the Czech language the months have names which are about the seasons).