Information about the structure and activities of the state music education institute in Würzburg is provided by the annual reports published between 1876 and 1967. In accordance with the name changes of the institute, the title supplement changed from Jahresbericht des Königlichen Musikinstituts (1876-1912) to ... des Königlichen Konservatoriums der Musik (1913-1918), ... des Konservatoriums der Musik (1919-1922) to ... of the Bavarian State Conservatory of Music (from 1923). The reports always referred to an entire academic year, which extended from September to July of the following year and is also indicated in the title as the reporting period. They still appeared in print in the year of the past academic year.

The gap between 1941 and 1947 can be explained, on the one hand, by the shortage of material due to the war and, on the other hand, by the approximately two and a half year break in teaching after the destruction of the concert hall and the teaching building on March 16, 1945. Until then, teaching could be maintained, albeit under extremely difficult conditions.

The fact that no more annual reports were printed after 1967 was probably due to problems with funding. The 1963-1968 report , conceived as a kind of commemorative publication for the inauguration of the new building in Hofstallstraße in 1966, had already been published by the Society of Friends of the Bavarian State Conservatory of Music Würzburg e. V ., founded in 1961. That the State Conservatory withdrew from it is understandable, since it had to expend budgetary funds. Why it happened at this time is unknown. The Society also paid for the supplementary report to the report of the 1963-1967 academic years, which documented the usual personnel and musical activities. In view of a DM 12,000 deficit in 1969, it came to the conclusion that it would no longer sponsor the printing of the annual reports in the future (minutes of the annual general meeting of March 19, 1970, Staatsarchiv Würzburg, University of Music Würzburg 13). This meant the end for a tradition of detailed documentation, which is of inestimable value for historiography and which was neither achieved nor aspired to in the later printed products.

To avoid misunderstandings: the annual reports available here have nothing to do with the municipal technical academy "Hermann -ZIlcher-Konservatorium".

Christoph Henzel