Previously unknown composition by Mozart discovered
A twelve-minute piece of music from the holdings of the Music Library of the Leipzig Municipal Libraries has been identified as a work by Mozart.
The piece "Serenate ex C" from the Carl Ferdinand Becker collection has turned out to be a youthful work by Mozart. The copy was discovered while working on the new edition of the Köchel-Verzeichnis, which is being compiled by the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg.
The manuscript is a copy that was made around 1780. It is therefore not by Mozart himself. The parts are bound separately and the manuscript is unsigned. It is thought to date from the mid to late 1760s - Mozart must have just become a teenager. The work is listed in the new Köchel catalog as "Ganz kleine Nachtmusik" under the number KV 648. It consists of seven miniature movements for string trio, which together only last around twelve minutes.
The piece of music will be presented and performed for the first time in Germany on Saturday, September 21, 5 p.m., at the Leipzig Opera. The musicians are: Vincent Geer (violin), David Geer (violin) and Elisabeth Zimmermann (violoncello) from the Leipzig "Johann Sebastian Bach" Music School.
