Arnold von Bruck

Bruck was one of the most respected composers in the German portion of the Habsburg domains during the first half of the 16th century. He wrote numerous vocal works, including motets, Magnificats, and both sacred and secular German songs. Many of the secular songs are quodlibets. One of his songs, Ihr Christen allgleiche, was written on the occasion of the Siege of Vienna in 1529 by the Ottoman Turks. His sacred music on Latin texts is similar in style to the music of Josquin and his generation; Brock avoided the dense, pervasive imitation and full textures of contemporary Franco-Flemish composers such as Nicolas Gombert. He wrote a four-voice setting of the Dies Irae, as well as a Te Deum. Some of his motets were written with a pedagogical intent, probably for training his choirboys. It is presumed that only a small fraction of his sacred music on Latin texts survives, since most of the music associated with the chapels at which he worked, both in Vienna and for Emperor Ferdinand, has been destroyed. Some of Arnold von Bruck's chorales appeared in a highly cosmopolitan collection by Georg Rhau, the Newe deudsche geistliche Gesenge of 1544. Unusually for the time, it contained music both by the early generation of Protestants, including Balthasar Resinarius and Sixtus Dietrich, and Roman Catholics such as Bruck. Bruck's contributions are for four voices, and include works in both Latin and German; some of the chorale settings are of tunes which were widely used for generations afterwards, such as Christ lag in Todesbanden, famously also set by J.S. Bach in his cantata Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4. Bruck's reputation was such that he received numerous dedications and awards, including medallions, sculptures, book dedications, and music. Copus Caspar, a composer known to have worked around the mid-century in Vienna, dedicated a setting of the Salve Regina to him. In spite of working in the land of Luther during the period of the Reformation, there is no evidence that Bruck ever had Protestant sympathies; indeed his esteem by Catholic monarchs and continued acquisition of high posts suggest that he remained Roman Catholic throughout his life (some previous scholars had suggested otherwise).