Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns

Who was Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns?

Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns or Brauns was a German composer and music director in Hamburg.

Bruhns was born in Lollfuß, Schleswig. In 1682 he succeeded Nicolaus Adam Strungk in charge of the Hamburger Ratsmusik, later also taking on the charge of St. Mary's Cathedral. He was in practice succeeded by Johann Mattheson in 1715, but still formally held the positions till his death in 1718.

Händel joined the opera orchestra during Brauns' time.

He died in Hamburg. Both his Johannes-Passion and Markus-Passion were long mistakenly attributed to Reinhard Keiser. Bach performed his Markus-Passion in Weimar in 1726 and the Nikolaikirche, Leipzig in 1727. It is thanks only to Bach's performances, in a copy largely written out by Bach himself, that the work survives. However it was also Bach who misattributed the work to Keiser.