During the 18th century, Roman Catholic bishops in Hungary founded cathedral choirs and orchestras. The need that arose at this time also gave rise to the cathedral musical scores collections, which prelates continued to keep it growing. The so-called incipit index helps to identify the musical documents belonging to the historical musical scores collection of the Cathedral of St. Michael in Veszprém. A musical incipit is the initial note of a piece of music or a single movement, which allows for a clear identification of the composition. The index follows the alphabetical catalogue of composers.
The musical incipits of all the parts of the more than 2,000 compositions in the music collection of the St. Michael Cathedral, nowadays kept in the Archbishop's Library of Veszprém, were assembled by the composer, organist and music teacher Szilveszter Rostetter.
