A previously unknown composition by 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been unearthed at a library in Germany.
Mozart – who was born in 1756 – was a child prodigy and began composing musical work at a young age with the help and guidance of his father. According to The Guardian, the unknown piece of music was probably created when the music virtuoso was only in his teens.
Researchers who are working on compiling the newest edition of the Köchel catalogue – the definitive archive of Mozart’s musical works – came across the previously unknown piece at one of Leipzig’s municipal libraries.
The newly discovered piece which is referred to as Ganz kleine Nachtmusik and has been estimated to be dated somewhere around the mid-to-late 1760s. It is comprised of seven miniature movements for a string trio lasting about 12 minutes.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) at the age of 11. Original Artwork: Engraving after a painting by Dominikus van der Smisseen at the Mozart Museum, Salzburg. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The piece unearthed in Leipzig is not an original document from Mozart himself, but a copy produced by someone in roughly 1780. According to the Köchel catalogue (via Stereogum) the piece was “preserved in a single source, in which the attribution of the author suggests that the work was written before Mozart’s first trip to Italy.”
The manuscript is comprised of dark brown ink on medium-white handmade paper and the parts are individually bound, according to a statement shared by the Leipzig municipal libraries (via The Guardian).
Ganz kleine Nachtmusik was performed for the first time in Salzburg, Austria yesterday (September 19) along with the unveiling of the new Köchel catalogue. The piece will have its German debut on Saturday (September 21) at the Leipzig Opera.
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