Pablo Bruna

Pablo Bruna
(b Daroca, bap. 22 June 1611; d Daroca, 26/27 June 1679). Spanish composer and organist.

Known as ‘El ciego de Daroca’, he was blinded by smallpox in early childhood. He became organist of the collegiate church of S María, Daroca, in 1631 and was named its choirmaster in 1674. He was honoured as one of the foremost organists and organ teachers in Spain; his pupils included Pablo Nassarre.

Apart from seven Pange lingua settings and one incomplete set of psalm versets, most of Bruna’s 32 known organ pieces are of the tiento type (though a few have other titles). The tientos for undivided keyboard (lleno) are quite varied, some brief and quiet (especially those termed ‘de falsas’, which feature suspensions and chromatic inflections), others long and full of tumultuous figuration. All begin with imitation and retain their opening subjects throughout, though in the longer works these are transformed in various ways. The tientos for divided keyboard (partido or medio registro) also begin with imitation, but this gives way to passage-work with accompaniment in which series of figures are taken through long sequential progressions. Bruna’s music is sonorous, well suited to the keyboard and imbued with an intensity peculiarly Spanish; at times it achieves a real magnificence through its fantastic figuration and dense, close imitation. He was the leading Spanish keyboard composer between Correa de Arauxo and Cabanilles.

Bruna's two nephews were also musicians, both taught by him. Diego Xaraba y Bruna (b Daroca, 1652; d c1716) was organist of the cathedral of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, Zaragoza, and a chamber musician to Don Juan José of Austria, governor of Aragon 1674–7. In May 1677 he became organist of the royal chapel in Madrid and in 1700 maestro de clavicordio to Charles II's queen, Marie-Louise. Some of his organ works survive (E-J, Mn 1357). His brother Francisco Xaraba y Bruna (d 30 July 1690) was appointed organist of the collegiate church at Pastrana, Guadalajara, in 1680, then (1687) of the royal chapel in Madrid, where he was also maestro de clavicordio to the queen.