William Brade

William Brade (* 1560 in England ; † February 26, 1630 in Hamburg ) was an English composer , violinist and viol virtuoso of the late Renaissance and early Baroque , who was mostly active in northern Germany.

Life

Little is known about William Brade's early work. Regarding his education, Brade said in the preface of his Paduanen from 1609 that he had devoted himself to the noble and beautiful art of music / from youth . Brade probably came to the mainland around 1594 and has not written vocal music since that time. From 1594 to 1596 he worked at the Copenhagen court of the Danish King Christian IV , then at the Brandenburg court in Berlin , from 1606 to 1608 and from 1611 to 1613 with Count Ernst zu Holstein-Schaumburg at Bückeburg Palace . In the period from 1608 to 1610 and from 1613 to 1615 he worked in the Hamburg Council Chapel, then in Copenhagen (1615 to 1618 and 1620 to 1622), Halle (1618 to 1619) and Güstrow (1619 to 1620), from 1622 at the castle Gottorf and finally back in Berlin. Johann Schop , David Cramer († 1666) and Nicolaus Bleyer are counted among his students .

Brade's success as an instrumentalist and composer can be seen in the considerable number of five printed collections for his time, which exclusively contain dances composed or arranged by him . In these works, Brade succeeds in bringing common instrumental dance to the richness of sound of old English chamber music. Brade was the first Englishman to have a canzona and a solo piece for violin. The last two prints were published by Phalèse in Antwerp in 1619 and another in Berlin in 1621. He is represented in various collective prints with other composers of his time.

Works

• William Brade, Newe extra-select Paduanen, Galliard, Canzonen, Allmand and Coranten can be used on all musical instruments (with 5 voices) , Hamburg 1609.
• William Brade, Newe exceptional Paduanen and Galliards on all musical instruments and especially fioles (sic!) To use (with 6 voices) , Hamburg 1614.

literature

• Georg von Dadelsen:  Brade, William. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 505 ( digitized version ).
• Gisela Jaacks : Brade, William . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 7 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2020, ISBN 978-3-8353-3579-0 , p. 39-41 .
• Kurt Stephenson: William Brade , in: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Vol. 3. Macmillan, London 1980, ISBN 1-56159-174-2 , p. 151
• Kurt Stephenson, Peter Holman: William Brade in: L. Macy (Ed.): Grove Music Online (restricted access)

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by William Brade in the International Music Score Library Project

predecessor	Office	successor
Nikolaus Zangius	Kapellmeister of the Berlin court orchestra 1619–1620	Walter Rowe