Moritz Brosig

Moritz Brosig (15 October 1815 - 24 January 1887) was a German cathedral organist and composer. He came to be seen as a leading representative of the so-called Breslau School of church musicians. Despite his Roman Catholic faith, he wrote more than thirty chorale preludes, working in a musical genre more traditionally associated with Lutheran worship.

Life Provenance and early years Moritz Brosig was born the youngest son of Joseph Brosig, a minor landowner at Fuchswinke in the countryside on the southern edge of Lower Silesia. His mother Barbara was the daughter of the man who owned the Kreuzer printing works in the Silesian capital, Breslau.

Music professional In 1838 Brosig took over as the organist at St. Adalbert's church in the heart of the city. During this period he deputised with growing frequency for his teacher-mentor, In 1869 the organist Franz Dirschke shared his opinion in the "Zeitschrift für katholische Kirchenmusik" ("Journal of Catholic Church Music") that Brosig's playing appealed alike to the musical expert and to the musically untutored: "one can only regret that all those splendid and accomplished improvisations which [he had] created as a cathedral organist during the services are [nothing more than] a pleasing memory for those who heard them. [It can be argued that] as far as the free prelude to the organ is concerned, Brosig had no equal". In 1879 the university conferred a doctorate on him after he had written a "Theory of Modulation" ("Modulationstheorie"), published in 1865, and a "Treatise on Harmonies" ("Harmonielehre") in 1874. The reformers were indeed slow to agree on a standard repertory of "acceptable" church music.

In his 1880 work on the reintroduction of sixteenth and seventeenth century church music to Catholic liturgy Brosig quoted with evident approval the verdict of the polymath-musicologist Emil von Schafhäutl:

Published prose works (selection)

Published compositions (selection)