Haydn's first sketch of the melody was found among his papers
after his death. We reproduce it here, with an improvement
shown in small notes. There are, it will be observed, some slight
differences between the draft and the published version of the air:

[figure: a musical score excerpt from the draft]

[figure: a musical score excerpt from the published version]

The collecting of what Tennyson called "the chips of the
workshop" is not as a rule an edifying business, but the
evolution of a great national air must always be interesting.

Plagiarism or Coincidence?

It might perhaps be added that Dr Kuhac, the highest authority
on Croatian folk-song, asserted in an article contributed to the
Croatian Review (1893) that the Austrian National Hymn was based
on a Croatian popular air. In reviewing Kuhac's collection of
Croatian melodies, a work in four volumes, containing 1600
examples, Dr Reimann signifies his agreement with Kuhac, and
adds that Haydn employed Croatian themes not only in "God
preserve the Emperor," but in many passages of his other works.
These statements must not be taken too seriously. Handel purloined
wholesale from brother composers and said nothing about it. The
artistic morality of Haydn's age was different, and, knowing his
character as we do, we may be perfectly sure that if he had of
set purpose introduced into any of his compositions music which
was not his own he would, in some way or other, have acknowledged
the debt. This hunting for plagiarisms which are not plagiarisms