Gustav Düben d.ä. (1628/29−1690)
Gustav Düben was born in Stockholm in 1628 or 1629 and died in Stockholm on 19 December 1690. In 1648 he was engaged in the Royal Court Orchestra and in 1663 he was promoted to its chief conductor, when he also received the post as organist at the German Church in Stockholm. The extant works by Gustav Düben include a small number of sacred vocal works with string accompaniment, a few instrumental works and a larger number of strophic arias.
Life
Gustav Düben was born in Stockholm in 1628 or 1629. Originating from Saxony, a great many members of the Düben family were musicians, amongst them his father, Andreas Düben (1697/98−1662), who worked as both hovkapellmästare (chief conductor of the Royal Court Orchestra) as well as organist at the German Church and the Great Church. His mother, Anna Maria Gabrielen (ca 1605−1690, additional spellings of her name such as Gabriels, Gabrielin and Kosselin are also known), possibly had a function at the queen consort Maria Eleonora’s court.
Gustav Düben probably received his first education in music from his father. Approximately in 1645, at the latest, to around 1648 he traveled to Germany and possibly even Paris to study. Gustav Düben most likely became acquainted with other musicians during his travels, such as with Heinrich Scheidemann, his father’s friend from his study period under Jan Pieterson Sweelinck. In January 1648 Gustav Düben was engaged and salaried as a musician in the Hovkapellet (the Royal Court Orchestra) in Stockholm. After his father’s death during the summer of 1662, Gustav Düben took over the leadership of the Hovkapellet, with a formal appointing in early 1663. At the same time he also took over his father’s position as organist at the German Church in Stockholm. He kept both positions until his death on 19 December 1690.
In 1654 Gustav Düben married Emerentia Standaert (died 1679), who came from a Dutch merchant family. Of their at least nine children, four sons were engaged at some point with the Hovkapellet. Two of their sons, Gustav (the younger) and Anders, would also hold positions as hovkapellmästare. Besides working as court musicians, several of the children were able to make noteworthy careers at the court, with four of them receiving titles of nobility.
Gustav Düben established and built up a great portion of the comprehensive music collection that bears his family’s name: the Düben collection. During their time as leaders for the court music, Gustav the younger and Anders took over and expanded the collection. Anders donated the collection to Uppsala University and in January 1733 the music was transported to Uppsala in two large chests.
Works
Four more comprehensive vocal works by Gustav Düben are preserved. Veni sancte spiritus (1651), Fader vår som är i himmelen (1663) and Surrexit pastor bonus (1664) are written for four part choir, strings and basso continuo, whereas Cessat gaudium, which was composed for the funeral of King Charles X Gustav in 1660, are orchestrated for alto, five-part string orchestra and basso continuo. The extant instrumental music consists of a sinfonia (1654) for three-part string orchestra, harpsichord and spinet, together with five dance movements, all attributed to ‘G.D.’, preserved in two organ tablatures from the 1650’s.
Düben also composed strophic arias for one to four voices, with continuo accompaniment and often with instrumental sinfonias and ritornellos. 12 songs with texts by Samuel Columbus can be found in the printed song collection Odae Sveticae (1674) and eight additional songs are preserved in separate printed publications. Several similar arias in the Düben collection were most likely composed by Gustav Düben, even though only eight manuscripts are attributed to him.
Maria Schildt © 2015
Trans. Thalia Thunander
Bibliography
Dirksen, Pieter: Heinrich Scheidemann's Keyboard Music, Transmission, Style and Chronology, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007.
Düben, Gustaf och Samuel Columbus: Odæ sveticæ, Stockholm: Edition Reimers, 1998.
Kjellberg, Erik: The Düben family and the Düben collection, in Erik Kjellberg (ed.), The dissemination of music in seventeenth-century Europe: celebrating the Düben collection, Bern: Lang, 2010, pp. 12−32.
Kjellberg, Erik: 'Gustav Düben', in: Sohlmans musiklexikon, vol. 2, Stockholm: Sohlman, 1975, pp. 372−374 [inkluding list of works].
Kjellberg, Erik: Kungliga musiker i Sverige under stormaktstiden: studier kring deras organisation, verksamheter och status ca 1620−ca 1720, vol. 1–2, diss. in musicology, Uppsala University, 1979.
Kyhlberg, Bengt: 'När föddes Gustav Düben dy? Anteckningar kring några oklara punkter i familjen Dübens biografi', Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning, vol. 55, 1974, pp. 7−18.
Kyhlberg, Bengt: 'Gustav Düben och Paris. Några funderingar kring en stamboksanteckning', in: Per-Erik Brolinson et al. (eds), Skriftfest. 19 uppsatser om musik tillägnade Martin Tegen på hans 60-årsdag den 28 april 1979, Musicological Department, Stockholm University, 1979, pp. 109−114.
Moberg, Carl-Allan: 'Gustaf Düben', in: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, vol. 11, Stockholm: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, 1945, pp. 637−641 [including list of works].
Norlind, Tobias: 'Familjen Düben', Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning, vol. 24, 1942, pp. 5−46.
Norlind, Tobias: Från Tyska kyrkans glansdagar: bilder ur svenska musikens historia från Vasaregenterna till karolinska tidens slut, vol. 3, Stormaktstidens senare skede 1660−1720, Stockholm: Musikhistoriska museet, 1945.
Orgelmusik av familjen Düben, Pieter Dirksen (ed.), Stockholm: Runa Nototext, 1997.
Persson, Fabian: Servants of fortune; the Swedish court between 1598 and 1721, diss. in history, Lund University, Lund: Wallin & Dalholm, 1999.
Schildt, Maria: 'Hyllningsmusik till Karl XI: en studie kring 18 tillfälleskompositioner', master's thesis in musicology, Uppsala University, 2007.
Schildt, Maria: Gustav Düben at work: Musical repertory and practice of the Swedish court musicians 1663−90, diss. in musicology, Uppsala University, 2014.
Sources
Uppsala universitetsbibliotek, Skara stifts- och landsbibliotek.
Summary list of works
4 vocal works with strings, orchestral music (sinfonia for strings, 5 instrumental dance movements), songs (Odae Sveticae, etc.) and arias.
Collected works
Sacred vocal works
Cessat gaudium for alto solo, five-part string orchestra and continuo, ca 1660.
Fader vår som är i himmelen for four-part choir, five string parts and continuo, 1663.
Surrexit pastor bonus for four-part choir, five string parts and continuo, 1664.
Veni sancte spiritus for four-part choir, strings and continuo, 1651.
Instrumental music
Allamanda, Courante, Saraband, for four-part string orchestra, ca 1651−54.
Sinfonia à 4 for three strings, harpsichord and spinet, 1654.
Preludium, Allamanda for keyboard instrument, 1659.
Nun lob mein Seel den Herren för keyboard instrument, ca 1640−50. [Tentative attribution, Pieter Dirksen 1997.]
Printed arias (printed in Stockholm if nothing else is stated)
Glückwünschende Ode als ... unserm allergnädigstem Könige ... der weltberühmte Ritter-Orden des güldenen Hosenbandes offeriret worden, 1669 ('O grosser König dieser Reichen').
Schuldige Pflicht welche bey ... hochzeitlichen Ehren-Tage des ... Herrn Peter Gråh ... mit ... Dorotheen Fultin ... in einer Ode abgeleget worden, 1669 ('Man sagt sonst was geschwind' entsteht'). [Also extant as handwritten manuscript.]
Odae Sveticae. Thet är någre werldsbetrachtelser sångwijs författade af Samuel Columbus, 1674, 2nd ed. 1676. 1. Vår högste Herre Gud, 2. Det vida villa hav, 3. O huru väl är dock den själ, 4. Vad är dock världens väsende?, 5. Stämmer opp I sångarinner, 6. Allt livs och levnads springekälla, 7. Hur fåfängt allt, 8. Vad ästu självklok kommen frå’, 9 Var ästu avund kommen frå’, 10. Fast mycki mycki gott, 11. Vad är det åt att jag, 12. Allt efter Guds behag.
Rådrijk oder Anweiser zur Tugend geschrieben und vorgestellet von Samuel Columbus (Ingen må mig thäd förneeka), Leipzig, 1676.
Über den glorwürdigsten Sieg und tapffren Überwindung des Königl. Dänischen ... Krieges-Heers welches ... Carolus der XI. der Schweden, Gothen und Wenden König ... überwunden ... Wurde folgende Triumpfs Ode ... auff der Upsahlischen Accademia in einer Abend Music praesentiret ('Gott schützt dennoch'), ca 1677.
Über Den Glorwürdigsten Sieg und Tapffren überwindung des Königl. Dänischen und dero Aliirten Mächtigen Krieges-Heers welches Der Durchleuchtigster Großmächtiger König und Herre Herr CAROLUS der XI. Der Schweden Gothen ... ('Blickt ihr Salinnen'), 1677 [also extant as handwritten manuscript].
Itt wälmeent kärleekz tahl och swar hållit widh Hallandz åsar som Cupido tyst tilhördt har […] ('War wälkommen min bästa wänn'), 1680 [also extant as handwritten manuscript].
Unterthänigste Pflicht und Freudens-Bezeigung alß ... König ... Carolus der XI ... nach wieder erlangten ... Friede sich naher dero ... Residentz Stockholm wendete ('O Sonne! Du Wonne der Freude der Erden'), 1680.
Fägne-skrifft då ... Oloff Unger sampt ... J. Brita Nilsdotter trädde medh hwar andra uthi ett christeligit äcktenskap i Stockholm den 6. iulii åhr 1684 ('Wäll ehr i nu föreente twå') [also extant as handwritten manuscript].
Arias (in handwritten manuscript, attributed to Gustav Düben)
Allt vad i Sverige bor (vocal part, b.c.), 1688.
Alles Leben dieser Erden (SSB, 2 vl., va, b.c.), ca 1680.
Wie bist du Davids Herr (SATB, 3 vl., b.c.), 1680s.
Ein getreues Herze wissen (P. Fleming) (vocal part, 2 vl., b.c.), 1667.
Wer Gott das Herze gebet (M. Opitz) (SS, 2 vl., b.c.), 1667.
Zwei Herzen/Seelen (vocal part, 2 vl./fl., va, b.c.), ca 1689−90.
Spel och danslust (E. Lindschöld) (vocal part, b.c.), 1690.
Lek dansa (E. Lindschöld) (vocal part, b.c.), 1690.
O großer Gott (A. Königsmarck) (SSBB, viola d’amore/fl., fl., b.c.), ca 1680−90.