The significance of Johann Nikolaus Forkel for musicology was recognised early on and never seriously called into question. Nevertheless, research has hitherto almost exclusively concentrated on his historiographical works, thus presenting a picture of him that is strikingly contrary to that of Forkel the musician.In his office as academic musical director in Göttingen, Forkel pursued the objective of putting musicology on an equal footing with the other humanities subjects, but he never lost touch with musical and artistic practice.This study reveals for the first time the impressively broad spectrum of Forkel's musical thought and action and presents him as one of the most original and influential musical personalities of the late Enlightenment period.