A Lost Mozart Composition Was Just Discovered

The Köchel catalog is a regularly updated index of Mozart’s more than 600 compositions. The archivists working on the latest addition were only planning on updating and documenting Mozart’s extensive works, when they stumbled upon a hidden gem, reports Smithsonian Magazine. Hidden in a library in Leipzig, Germany was a previously unknown composition from Mozart’s youth. 

Now that this rare find has been brought to the public eye, music aficionados can enjoy the stirring and lively piece for the first time in centuries. 

Finding a hidden treasure
While working on the catalog, archivists came across an ancient, bound book, written in brown ink on white paper. The book was labeled Wo[l]gang Mozart, which is how the cataloguers linked it to the musician. However, it was not written in Mozart’s handwriting, leading researchers to assume it was a copy of a piece that had been originally written by Mozart himself. The document dates back to around 1780.

The name of the composition was “Serenade in C”, but has been renamed “Ganz kleine Nachtmusik”, in allusion to another Mozart piece, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”.

The Guardian reports that the piece is twelve minutes long and contains seven miniature movements for a string trio. Now that the composition has been uncovered, listeners in Salzburg, Austria, and Leipzig, Germany have already had the opportunity to hear it played live for the first time in hundreds of years.

Dating the Serenade 
Researchers, Smithsonian Magazine shares, believe that Mozart originally published the newly discovered piece in the 1760s when he was only a teenager. 

A press release from the International Mozarteum Foundation adds that both the way Mozart’s name was written and the style of the piece helped the archivists put a date to the composition. 

“Our only surviving source ascribes it to ‘Wo[l]fgang Mozart’, indicating an early work from the composer’s youth because from the time of his first visit to Italy in 1769 he regularly added ‘Amadeo’ to his name – from 1777 onwards this then became ‘Amadé’,” the statement reads. ‘Stylistically, too, the work would appear to date from the 1760s.”

“It looks as if — thanks to a series of favorable circumstances — a complete string trio has survived in Leipzig,” Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozarteum Foundation to Deutsche Presse-Agentur says. “The source was evidently Mozart’s sister, and so it is tempting to think that she preserved the work as a memento of her brother. Perhaps he wrote the trio specially for her.”

Mozart – a music prodigy
Although Mozart was only a teenager when he wrote this stunning piece, Smithsonian Magazine reports that writing music in his childhood was not uncommon for the musical prodigy. From the age of five, Mozart was already traveling to Austria to perform for celebrities and royals. Shortly after, he kick started his career composing music. 

In all, Mozart composed more than 600 works in his short lifetime. The genius musician died of illness at only 35 years old. However, his compositions have outlived him, continuing to move and awe listeners today. With the remarkable discovery of yet another piece by Mozart, music enthusiasts will now have the ability to experience the brilliance of Mozart in a way that is both brand new and centuries old.