New Mozart piece of music found in French library (Cool!!!)

Edit: http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx/?news=331194>1=28102

PARIS (AP) -- A French museum has found a previously unknown piece of music handwritten by Mozart, a researcher said Thursday. The 18th century melody sketch is missing the harmony and instrumentation but was described as important find.

Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria, said there is no doubt that the single sheet was written by the composer.

"This is absolutely new," Leisinger said in a telephone interview. "We have new music here."

"His handwriting is absolutely clearly identifiable," he added. "There's no doubt that this is an original piece handwritten by Mozart."

The work, described as the preliminary draft of a musical composition, was found by a library in Nantes in western France as staff were going through its archives. Leisinger says the library contacted his foundation for help authenticating the work.

"It's a melody sketch so what's missing is the harmony and the instrumentation but you can make sense out of it," he said. "The tune is complete. It's only one part and not the whole score with eight or twelve parts."



You have to figure that this won't be the last. I'm waiting for an undiscovered symphony to pop up, but any "new" music from Mozart or the greats is awesome.

imagine finding it...:)

With a note at the bottom "Maybe in a hundred years or more people will be ready for it; until then, back to Don Giovani...sigh"

And how do they do that? Where in the catalog does it fall?

they think it was written in the last couple years of his life, AFTER 1787, he died in 1791. So they may not have to re-number everything.

IIRC there are Kochel (sp?) numbers like K 112.1 or something, since new pieces were discovered after he got started.

(on edit: No re-numbering. Latest version has ones like K.272a

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6chel_Verzeichnis

so they'll just make some kind of notation wherever they believe it fell in his life's works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_K%C3%B6chel

don't know how they will do that.

it can't be performed yet, I guess, if it's just a melody sketch...

someone would have to orchestrate it, i guess.

Some organization will probably get some composer to try to do something with it.

I love me some Mozart, always have, but dang does he ever use the same exact themes a lot. Especially in his concertos.

Don't forget, they were writing in the days before recording. Bach had to write an entire church service every single week. Every so often, he would take an old manuscript down, dust it off, rearrange things here and there, and play it on Sunday.

Haydn wrote 104 symphonies. I've got 12 or 13 of them on CD. There are many thematic similarities between them.

Or just listen to four or five film scores by John Williams sometime.

Haydn, well, with 104 symphonies that's to be expected.

But Mozart, geez Louise, only 4 horn concertos, one clarinet concerto, one flute concerto, one oboe concerto, and you hear the same seven-note theme several times.

John Williams? A musical thief. 'course, he only steals from dead composers.

His theme for the Ark in "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" is a blatant theft of the Tarnhelm motif from Wagner's "Das Rheingold".

The main Harry Potter theme is harmonically, if not melodically, related to Tchaikowsky's opening notes of "Swan Lake."

And on the subject of stealing from Wagner, James Horner's main theme from his score for "Willow" was stolen almost note-for-note from from Wagner's "Redemption" motif from "Die Walkure".

Okay you got me started :-) (nice list BTW)

- Krypton theme from Superman, almost identical to Respighi's Pines of Rome (ooh look, he added one note)
- Stormtrooper theme from Star Wars lifted from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
- rhythmic intro to Superman Main Theme same as Beethoven's 7th
- others I can't think of at the moment

And dang, couldn't Wendy Carlos have given a little credit in her theme for The Shining to Liszt's Totentanz? Since it's, you know, completely identical?

(but hey, don't dis my man James Horner. Wrath of Khan was a masterpiece. Even if he did blatantly re-use parts for Aliens. It was so good, we needed to hear it twice! :P)

Some of it is still neat, however. Although if I hear Quattro Stagione one more frickin time...

I went through a phase of listening to nothing else when I was about fifteen, and obsessively collected every recording I could find. Then, one dark day, I heard it used in an ad for "Four Seasons Salad Dressing" and that was it for me. Haven't been able to stomach it since (or the damned dressing, either).

That sums it up exactly. It's the kind of music that will appear on "popular classics" compilations from now until we're all nothing but ethereal minds floating in the outer darkness.

Thanks for the article!

I'd love to hear it.

sitting down to play the melody, knowing he's probably the first guy not named Mozart to play it.

What a coincidence that would be! :wow:

Which of course is scarcely by Albioni at all.