Mozart piano piece believed found in Austria
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Experts in Austria say they have identified a piano composition that they believe was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when the composer was as young as 10 years old.
The piece, whose tempo is marked ‘Allegro Molto,’ or ‘very fast,’ was found in a 160-page notebook dated 1780. The volume was discovered in an attic of a private home in the Austrian city of Tyrol, according to the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation.
The notebook, which also contained works by Mozart’s father, Leopold, bears the inscription Del Signore Giovane Wolfgango Mozart. Experts believe the younger Mozart wrote the piece around 1767.
Pianist Florian Birsak performed the newly uncovered work on Friday using the same piano forte that once belonged to Mozart. The piece, which has 84 measures, lasts about four minutes. (An excerpt from the performance can be viewed online at BBC News.)
A few ‘new’ pieces attributed to Mozart have surfaced in recent years. In 2009, two pieces were discovered in an archive and eventually attributed to the composer. Mozart, who died in 1791 at the age of 35, is thought to have composed more than 600 works during his life.
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-- David Ng