The Düben Collection comprises approximately 2,000 works, principally manuscripts of church music, both choral and instrumental, from the 17th and early 18th centuries.
Violin part from the lament "Ach dass ich Wassers gnug hätte", by Johann Christoph Bach (possibly Heinrich Bach?), 1679-1681 [VMHS 3:1]
The Collection was acquired by the Swedish Court Musician during Sweden's Age of Greatness. The position of Court Musician was held by various members of the Düben family between 1640 and 1718, and their collected musical scores were donated to Uppsala University in 1732. The principal collector in the Düben family was Gustav Düben (circa 1628-1690).
The Collection long remained untouched and therefore intact from the time of the donation. It contains a large number of choral works by Buxtehude and many other northern German church musicians. It reflects the musical life in the cities around the Baltic, but there are also strong influences from Italian music and even from English and French music. The French opera repertoire from Lully’s time is the largest profane section of the Collection.
Listen to a piece from the Düben Collection
The recording is from the CD "Music of the Swedish Great Power Period", Ulrika Westerberg and The Tre Kronor Baroque Ensemble, Daphne, 2006.
The shop in foyer of Carolina Rediviva sells recordings of music from the Düben Collection, including this one. If you can't visit us you can make an order by phone +46 (0)18-471 39 00 or by sending an e-mail to reception@ub.uu.se.
Catalogue
There is an online catalogue of the Düben Collection with facsimilies of the original documents.
The Section for Manuscripts and Music is happy to assist you with your searches. You can request a document and study it the same day, here in the Special Reading Room in the Library.
