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Gustaf Düben

Swedish composer (1628–1690)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ326817
Source-derived summary

Gustaf Düben (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈɡɵ̂sːtav dy:ʹbən]; 1624/1628 – December 19, 1690) was a Swedish organist and composer. Düben is best known for his contributions to the Düben collection, a collection of baroque music manuscripts.

Early life

Gustaf Düben was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in the 1620s, into the Düben family. He was the son of the German-born organist Andreas Düben and Anna Maria Gabrielen (1609–1690). His mother served as a lady's maid to Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg and was the daughter of Peter Gabriel, a court musician at the Berlin royal court.

Career

In 1647 Gustav became part of the Swedish royal court orchestra, the Kungliga Hovkapellet, where he would succeed as Hofkapellmeister. He succeeded to the role in 1663, following his father's death the previous year. Both of his sons would follow in their father's footsteps, Gustaf holding the office from 1690 to 1698 and Anders von Düben the Younger from 1698 to 1726.

In addition to his court duties, he was organist at the German Church in Stockholm, and he also taught Hedwig Eleonora how to play instruments.

Düben composed a few works in the North German style prevalent in his time, including both vocal and instrumental music.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Gustaf Düben” is swedish composer (1628–1690). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Gustaf, Düben and Swedish, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1624, 1628, 1690, 1609—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1628-01-01. For this dossier, Gustaf, Düben and Swedish is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “swedish composer (1628–1690)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q326817. VIAF identifies the subject as 305407960. The Library of Congress control number is n88682545. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1624, 1628, 1690 and 1609.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Gustaf Düben”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Gustaf Düben primary sources, Gustaf Düben archive and Gustaf research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gustaf Düben”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Gustaf Düben” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.