Lost Mozart Music Found
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart started writing music when he was a child. Now, one of those pieces has been found.
© Sebastian Willnow/picture alliance—Getty Images
An employee of the Leipzig Municipal Libraries shows part of the Mozart piece that was recently discovered in the library’s collection.
What does music sound like when it’s written by a kid? If that kid is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it sounds pretty good! A piece of music Mozart probably wrote in his early teens was recently rediscovered—and it has already been performed.
Mozart is known as a prodigy—someone who shows extraordinary talent at a young age. Born in Salzburg, Austria, in 1756, Mozart learned about music from his father, a violin player. The young Mozart wrote his first piece of music when he was 5 years old. He went on to write more than 600 pieces of music during his lifetime and is considered one of the greatest composers in history. Much of Mozart’s early work has been lost, but the recently discovered music was saved. It was found in a library in Germany.
The 12-minute piece of music, called Serenade in C, is labeled “Wolfgang Mozart.” Since it’s not in Mozart’s handwriting, experts believe it’s a copy of the original. Serenade in C was written sometime in the mid to late 1760s. Experts say the music has the same style as other music Mozart composed when he was between 10 and 13 years old. Mozart’s writing style changed as he got older.
Serenade in C has already been performed at least three times, and the crowds were large and enthusiastic. More than 200 years after his death, Mozart is still extremely popular.
The video features part of Serenade in C.
Martin Türke/Musikschule Leipzig “Johann Sebastian Bach”