Musicology became a fully-fledged academic study in the Netherlands in 1930 when both the Chair in Musicology and the Institute for Music History were founded at Utrecht University. Using sources such as archives, newspapers, personal memories of old studies in letters, and a talk on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the institute, this article describes the history of musicology Utrecht, its curriculum and what the first professor in musicology Albert Smijers expected of his students in the first decade of the institute’s existence.