Gustaf Düben

Düben was born in the 1620s in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of the German-born Andreas Düben, an organist,[1] and Anna Maria Gabriels, lady's maid of Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg.

[1] In 1647 Gustav became part of the Swedish royal court orchestra, the Kungliga Hovkapellet, where he would succeed as Hofkapellmeister in 1663 after the death of his father the previous year.

In addition to his court duties, he was organist at the German Church in Stockholm.

[2] From the 1640s, Düben begun compiling a manuscript collection of compositions from his time, some of which he had acquired from his travels in foreign lands.

Named after him as the Düben collection, it is one of the most important sources for music of the 17th century, notably being the only surviving copy of many works by Dieterich Buxtehude.