The Apotheosis of Music by Giuseppe Sigismondo (1739-1826) is an essential work for those undertaking the study of Neapolitan musical repertoire from the 18th century and of the collection from the library of the ‘San Pietro a Majella’ Conservatoire in Naples. It served as a model for the historiographies by the marquis of Villarosa (Lettera biografica intorno alla patria ed alla vita di Gio. Battista Pergolese, 1831; Memorie dei compositori di musica del Regno di Napoli, 1840), by Francesco Florimo (Cenno storico sulla Scuola musicale di Napoli, 1869-70; La scuola musicale di Napoli e i suoi conservatori, 1881-83) and by Salvatore di Giacomo (Il Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio a Capuana e quello di S.M. della Pietà dei Turchini, 1924; Il Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo e quello di Loreto, 1928). The Apotheosis was originally conceived to be published and is frequently quoted in studies on musicians of the Neapolitan school, but it is rarely consulted in its entirety. The four manuscript tomes of The Apotheosis of Music are currently preserved in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, having arrived there after passing through the collections of Franz Sales Kandler (1792-1831), Aloys Fuchs (1799-1853) and Georg Pölchau (1773-1836). The first tome consists of 198 pages containing the musical autobiography of the author, annotations on sacred music and opera theatres and considerations about the partial decadence of music in Naples in the 19th century. The second tome…