Jacques Brunel

Jacques Brunel (Brumel, Brumello, Brunello, Giaches Brumel, etc.) (died 1564) was a French organist and composer, active mostly in Italy. Life He may have been organist at the Rouen Cathedral until December 1524, when a certain Jacques Brunel left the post. From 1532 until 1564 a Brunel, probably the same person, worked as organist at the Este chapel in Ferrara, France, where in 1547–1558 he served under the famous composer Cipriano de Rore. Between 1543 and 1559, Brunel received money for the keep of a horse, which he needed to travel to oversee the Este chapels at Modena and Reggio nell’Emilia. At the request of Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Brunel also stayed in Pesaro and Urbino in the summer of 1534, and later in 1561–63. The last references to him in the archives are from early 1564: he was last paid in March, and had died by May that year. He was succeeded by his son Virginio Brunel, who later became organist at the Basilica of San Vitale and served there from August 1572 until some time after 1580. Works Brunel enjoyed an exceptionally high reputation during his lifetime. Numerous writers, including Cosimo Bartoli, Cinciarino, Jacopo Corfini and Luigi Dentice,