Music

It’s the sort of discovery that every historian dreams of. An unknown piece of music by Mozart has been found in the east German town of Leipzig, written when the composer was a teenager.

Born in 1756, Mozart was a child prodigy and began composing at a very early age under his father's guidance. His father brought him and his talented sister Maria Anna (Marianne) to play at courts and palaces across Europe.

They notably criss-crossed Austria and Germany, including Leipzig and Dresden. This probably explains the location of this ultra-rare find.

The piece dates to the mid- to late-1760s and consists of seven miniature movements for a string trio. In total, there are around 12 minutes of music. The piece is referred to as "Ganz kleine Nachtmusik" (tiny night music) in the new Koechel catalogue.

Researchers discovered the work at Leipzig’s municipal music library while compiling the latest edition of the so-called Koechel catalogue, the definitive archive of Mozart's musical works.

Sadly, the newly discovered manuscript is not in Mozart’s hand is believed to be a copy made in around 1780.

The piece was performed by a string trio at the unveiling of the new Koechel catalogue in the Austrian city of Salzburg on September 19.

It will receive its German premiere at the Leipzig Opera on September 21.

The Koechel catalogue describes the piece as "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".

(Michael Leahy. Photo: Tobias Tullius / Unsplash)