A newly discovered composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, unearthed in a library in Germany, reveals another facet of the musical child prodigy’s early work.
The 12-minute composition, broken into seven miniature movements, is written for a string trio. Researchers believe it was originally composed in the 1760s, when Mozart was a young teen, although the “gently used” composition found in the Leipzig Municipal Libraries is believed to be a copy made some 20 years later in the 1780s. Written in “dark brown ink on medium-white handmade paper,” the parts are bound separately and the manuscript unsigned.
“Ganz Kleine Nachtmusik” – or “Quite Little Night Music” in English – made its official premiere 21 September at the Leipzig Opera, played by Vincent Geer (violin), David Geer (violin) and Elisabeth Zimmermann (violoncello).
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The piece was rediscovered while researchers were compiling the latest Köchel Catalog of Mozart’s works. This official archive of the Austrian composer’s work is more than 160 years old, with the latest edition – the first update since 1964 – taking more than a decade to compile. The first edition, produced by Ludwig von Köchel in 1862 is more than 500 pages long and covers more than 600 works, underscoring the sheer scale of the project which has only expanded over time.
The over 260-year-old “Ganz Kleine Nachtmusik” is especially valuable to Mozart scholars as until now this period of his life was characterised by keyboard music, arias and sinfonias – not chamber works. Researchers knew such works existed, though, thanks to a list drawn up by the composer’s father Leopold Mozart. Now we have an example.
This latest discovery is one of just a dozen new Mozart pieces discovered in modern times, each revealing new facets of this prolific composer’s remarkable talent. The first published edition of “Ganz Kleine Nachtmusik” has now been released on sheet music sites like Score Exchange, making this long-lost piece of history available to the public for as little as US$5.
