SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- A piece of art was recently discovered in a German library musical Previously unknown, probably composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a teenager, the work, which dates from the mid- to late 1760s, consists of seven miniature movements for string trio.
The composition lasts about 12 minutes, according to a report release researchers from the Leipzig Municipal Library who made the discovery.
Specialists discovered the construction site in the city’s music library while compiling the latest edition of the so-called Koechel catalogue, the definitive archive of Mozart’s musical works.
The piece is called “Ganz kleine Nachtmusik” (Little Night Music) in the new Koechel catalogue.
“Ganz kleine Nachtmusik”: Unbekanntes Stück von Mozart entdeckt https://t.co/mgXknx3mgO
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The text of that archive describes the piece as “preserved in a single source, in which the author attribution suggests that the work was written before Mozart’s first trip to Italy,” the researchers said.
The newly discovered manuscript, in dark ink on half-white handmade paper, was not written by Mozart himself but is believed to be a copy made around 1780.
Until now, researchers had known the young Mozart “mainly as a composer of piano music, arias and symphonies,” Ulrich Leisinger of the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg wrote in a statement.
A list by Mozart’s father had alerted scholars to the existence of “many other chamber music compositions” by the young artist, all thought lost until the advent of the string trio, Leisinger said.
“Since the inspiration for this apparently came from Mozart’s sister, it is tempting to imagine that she kept the work as a memento of her brother,” he added.
The piece was performed by a string trio at the presentation of Koechel’s new catalogue last Thursday in the Austrian city of Salzburg. This Saturday it was premiered in Germany at the Leipzig Opera.
Born in 1756, Mozart was a child prodigy and began composing at a very early age under the direction of his father.
By the astonishing age of five, Mozart was already composing music and touring throughout Europe with his family. His ability to play the harpsichord and violin, as well as his skill at improvisation, left audiences across Europe in awe.
Throughout his short but intense life, Mozart composed more than 600 works, ranging from operas and symphonies to chamber music and sacred works. His creations, which range from the famous “Symphony No. 40 in G minor” to the opera “The Marriage of Figaro”, continue to be performed and admired throughout the world.
