William Brade (1560-1630) was an English composer and violinist/viola da gamba player active in the late Renaissance to early Baroque periods.

Brade's time in England is not well known. His mentions appear around 1590 when he moved to Germany working as a violinist for the Brandenburg Earl of the Frontier Court Orchestra. He later held various positions including in the Court of Christian IV of Copenhagen, the Court of Frederik III of Bückeburg-Holstein-Schumberg, and the court of the Archbishop of Magdeburg.

During his time there, Germany was trying to culturally advance by importing foreign style into its own musical language. In Brade's work collection published in Hamburg in 1609, he introduced the style of Englishmen J. Dowland, P. Phillips, W. Bird, etc. He brought those musical styles and others such as branle and volta, dance music less familiar at that time in Germany. In 1612, the famous collection "Terpsichore" (M. Pretorius) which introduced French dance to Germany was also published; one can only imagine the vibrant music scene at that time.

(Makoto Onodera)