Perhaps the most lasting impact the writer, composer, publisher, educator, and conductor Hans Georg Nägeli made upon his art was in the field of theory, when he brought the scientific term dynamics into the vocabulary of the student and professional in his description of music as energy. For the ingenuity of his notion, the University of Bonn awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1833; however, he hardly needed this achievement to gain recognition as his name had been illuminated earlier when he pioneered a lending library unlike any other that Switzerland had seen hitherto. His early musical instruction with his father and Johann David Brünings prepared him for this enterprise, which quickly led to his entrance into the publishing business; the periodical Répertoire des Clavecinistes (containing works by contemporary musicians) was one of his more notable releases. He eventually formed his own firm after he left behind his first business to J.C. and Kapar Hug. His adventures in this trade were probably responsible for initially spurring his interest to write on various aspects of music, like performance techniques and other composers' works. A composer himself, Nägeli primarily wrote choral pieces. In addition, he also composed lied that approach the level of those by Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert; many of his pieces similarly draw their lyrics from the poetry of Goethe. In addition to all his other accomplishments, Hans Georg Nägeli founded the Zürich Singinstitut in 1805, the Sängerverein der Stadt Zürich in 1826, and the Musikalischer Frauenverein in 1828; was active in a number of musical organizations; and even conducted. His compositions are not commonly recorded.