Founded in 1798, it was a Viennese weekly periodical dedicated to reviews and analysis of compositions and performances. One of the first and most successful of it's kind, it played an instrumental role in the development of a "serious music" culture in 19th Century Europe. It seems that once this idea had caught on and become the norm, it lost its former edginess and was discontinued in 1848. A number of revivals followed, all with varying degrees of success. Needless to say, it's volumes are pure gold for those historians, sociologists, musicologists, and extreme euro centrists who care to glance at the period.