A New Mozart Work Is Discovered!

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This past September, scholars at the Leipzig municipal library announced that they had discovered a previously unknown string trio (for two violins and cello) by the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The unearthed manuscript was not in the composer’s hand but was deemed to be a copy made a decade or so after it was penned. The scholars nicknamed the piece “Ganz Kleine Nachtmusik,” an overt nod to Mozart’s famous “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” to which it is also a worthy companion.

Though not a major work—it lasts only some twelve minutes and was likely written by Mozart when he was between ten and fourteen years old—the trio is a major find: a delightful and memorable piece that possesses typical Mozartian energy, elegance, and tunefulness. This is no trifling juvenilia. “Ganz Kleine Nachtmusik” begins with a march, punctuated to great effect by the use of repeated chords; next is a wonderful allegro that is at once happy and yet tinged by a spirit of yearning; a gentle menuet & trio follows; then a brief, stately polonese; a lovely adagio; a second, more saucy menuet & trio; and then a raucous finale… with a little surprise to boot.

The discovery of such lost works by great composers is always a cause for celebration. In the case of Mozart, this particular find reminds the present author that “the miracle which God let be born in Salzburg” remains unique in his ability to touch one’s very soul with music which on the surface seems to be intended as a light divertissement. See if it doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, as it did to mine, within its first few moments.

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The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay and is AI-generated.

Stephen Klugewicz is Editor of The Imaginative Conservative. He holds a Ph.D. in American History, with expertise in the eras of the Founding and Early Republic. A student of Forrest McDonald, Dr. Klugewicz is the co-editor of History, on Proper Principles: Essays in Honor of Forrest McDonald and Founders and the Constitution: In Their Own Words. He is the former executive director of the Collegiate Network at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and has long experience in education and development, having served as Director of Education at the National Constitution Center, as Headmaster of Regina Luminis Academy, as executive director of the Robert and Marie Hansen Foundation, and and as Director of Development at Aristoi Classical Academy.