Yes, Kaiserquartett by Hayden was played by chance yesterday because the sheets were available but because many international twitter users are stunned I try to explain the background:

1.) Kaiserquartett (Hob. III:77) is a frequently played piece of music by Hayden

1/n https://twitter.com/barbaralovett4/status/1323423142623268865

2.) The Kaiserquartett was composed 40 years BEFORE Fallersleben created the “Lied der Deutschen” to the music of the Austrian Volkshymne, later Kaiserhymne

The Austrian Volkshymne was created as a contrast to the Prussian “Heil dir im Siegerkranze” & the Frech Marseillaise
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Here you can see more information about the topic:

https://austria-forum.org/af/Wissenssammlungen/Symbole/Gott_erhalte_%28Kaiserhymne%29 (from well known Austrian historians)

https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Kaiserhymne  (official page of the city of Vienna)

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000097123318/gott-erhalte-haydns-hymne-fuer-die-habsburgermonarchie-und-deutschland (excellent newspaper article from 2019)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96sterreichische_Kaiserhymnen

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Emperor Franz II. was the last emperor of the ‘Heiliges Römisches Reich’ (800 a.d. to 1806 a.d.; Holy Roman Empire /Sacrum Imperium) to with ‘Deutscher Nation’ (of German Nation) added in the 15th century and hence the last Roman -German Emperor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

4/n

After 1806 he became the first Emperor of Austria.

NB: The Emperor of Austria was the ‘Präsidialmacht’ of the ‘Deutscher Bund’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Confederation

till the ‘Deutscher Krieg’ aka ‘Bruderkrieg’ (Brothers War) 1866

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Prussian_War

5/n

German history does not only mean the history of the modern Federal Republic of Germany (BRD, colloquially known as ‘Germany’) but is a rich and complex matter that transcends what we today refer as ‘German’

Visit the Vienna Schatzkammer after #CoViD19
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskleinodien
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It is as much the /historical/ Austrian anthem as it is the current one of the BRD.

Many Austrians still partly identify with the anthem WITHOUT any 1933-1945 connotations

See it sung in Austrias most important church St. Stephans cathedral in 2016: