Researchers Discover A Previously Unknown Mozart Composition In A German Library

Experts believe that Mozart composed "Serenade in C" in the 1760s — perhaps even before he turned 13.

Public DomainA portrait of 14-year-old Mozart at the School of Verona in 1770, likely a year or two after he composed this newfound piece of music.

Researchers in Leipzig, Germany, recently uncovered a previously unknown piece of music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart himself. The manuscript dates back to 1780 and consists of seven miniature movements for a string trio. It is believed to be a copy of an original work Mozart composed during his teenage years.

The discovery aligns with a list of compositions left by Mozart’s father, but this is the first of the musician’s “lost works” to be recovered so far.

The piece, now named Ganz kleine Nachtmusik or “very little night music,” has been added to the Köchel catalogue, the official list of Mozart’s works. It is now set to be played at the Leipzig Opera to honor its remarkable rediscovery more than two centuries after it was created.

Who Was Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria. His father, Leopold, was an accomplished composer and taught all of his children how to play music.

Reiseuhu/UnsplashMozart’s childhood home in Salzburg, Austria.

However, Mozart expressed a remarkable talent for composing, even creating his own songs as young as five years old. His skills surpassed those of his father before he became an adult, and he was writing full operas by the time he was 12. In 1773, Mozart began working as a court musician, and he composed five violin concertos before 1775.

In his later years, Mozart composed operas like The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute and his famous Symphony. No. 41, also known as the “Jupiter Symphony.”

Mozart continued producing new music until his sudden and mysterious death on Dec. 5, 1791, at just 35 years old. In 1862, Ludwig von Köchel created the first full catalog of Mozart’s work, now known as the Köchel catalogue.

Recently, researchers compiling an update to this catalog discovered a previously unknown composition by Mozart in a library in Leipzig, Germany.

Researchers Uncover Mozart’s Previously Unknown Composition

The manuscript found in Leipzig features dark brown ink on roughly bound paper and is titled “Serenade in C,” though the Köchel catalogue lists it as Ganz kleine Nachtmusik. It consists of seven miniature movements for a string trio and takes 12 minutes to perform.

The piece dates back to the mid-to-late 1760s, and Mozart may have composed it before he even turned 13. The research team believes the manuscript is a 1780 copy of the original piece Mozart created.

Leipzig Municipal LibrariesThe rediscovered Mozart manuscript contains seven miniature movements for a string trio.

“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,” wrote the International Mozarteum Foundation in a press release.

Ulrich Leisinger, the head of research at the Mozarteum Foundation, stated, “Until now the young Mozart has been familiar to us chiefly as a composer of keyboard music and of arias and sinfonias but we know from a list drawn up by Leopold Mozart that he wrote many other chamber works in his youth, all of them unfortunately lost. It looks as if — thanks to a series of favorable circumstances — a complete string trio has survived in Leipzig.”

Researchers say “Serenade in C” was seemingly written for Mozart’s sister, Maria Anna. Leisinger noted, “It is tempting to think that she preserved the work as a memento of her brother.”

After reading about the discovery of Mozart’s missing music, dive into the bizarre historical debate about composer Ludwig van Beethoven’s ethnic background. Then, read about the Seikilos Epitaph, the world’s oldest complete musical composition dating back to 200 B.C.E.