Lost Manuscript Reveals Centuries-Old Music

A previously unknown work by Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was recently discovered by researchers at the Leipzig Municipal Library.

The score was not written by Mozart, the composer of famous works. The Magic Flute, The Marriage of FigaroAnd Lament (Personally, I side with him. Symphony No. 40)The recently discovered manuscript is a copy written around 1780, which the copyist attributed to “Wolfgang Mozart”. The absence of Mozart’s middle name in the copyist’s signature suggests that Mozart wrote the piece before 1769, when he began adding his nickname in the middle, according to the Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg. release.

The piece is a 12-minute piece in C major, written for two violins and a bass. KocelIt appears in the catalogue of Mozart’s works as KV 648, but is also called “Ganz kleine Nachtmusik” and “Serenate ex C”. The work consists of seven miniature movements. Based on the approximate timing of the composition, Mozart was between 10 and 13 years old when he wrote it.

Until the writing of KV 648, Mozart was known primarily for his keyboard music, arias and sinfonias, Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozarteum Foundation and editor of Köchel’s latest version, noted in the publication. Leisinger added that Mozart would probably no longer have written music in this style by the time he was 17.

“We know that Leopold Mozart wrote many other chamber works in his youth, but that these have all been unfortunately lost,” Leisinger said. “It seems that – thanks to a series of favourable circumstances – a complete string trio has survived in Leipzig. The source was clearly Mozart’s sister, and so it is tempting to think that he kept the work as a keepsake of his brother.”

According to German media outlet MDRThe piece was performed in Mozart’s hometown of Salzburg on Thursday and made its debut in Germany at the Leipzig Opera on Saturday. You can hear a string trio play a bit of Mozart via German broadcaster ZDF Heute Here.

This refreshing addition to Mozart’s catalogue comes just a year after new insights into the life of the great German pianist and composer Beethoven emerged. published last year Beethoven was found to have suffered from serious liver problems and a hepatitis infection before his death in 1827. Mozart is in the news for a much more pleasant reason, but even now, almost two centuries after their deaths, we hope to learn more about these composers in the near future.