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With these words, Anton Schmid began the preface to his book "Joseph Haydn und Niccolò Zingarelli" (Vienna 1847), written in the wake of a public debate concerning the authorship of the Imperial Anthem "Gott erhalte" (God save). In this book, as well as in essays published in the "Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung" (1842), the "Cäcilia" (1843) and the "Oesterreichischer Zuschauer"…

What actually constitutes the ‘founding’ of a library or collection? The first book? The first catalogue? The opening of a reading room for users? In any case, there was no single act that founded the Music Collection. Instead, its creation was a lengthy process that began with a request to transfer older music manuscripts from the Court Music Archive to the Court Library, today's…