Can't keep Mozart down: new works discovered
Apparently, the International Mozarteum Foundation been holding out on us. Today they claim to have discovered that two works of unknown authorship in its possession are actually by Wolfang. Imagine that. They are early piano works, so nothing earth shadowing here, unless the Foundation is holding out more info about them. The cynic in me wants to say that more of this type of discovery and we will finally get audiences to like new music!
Here is the AP report:
VIENNA
(AP) — The International Mozarteum Foundation said Thursday it has
discovered two more works composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The previously unknown works are piano pieces composed by a young
Mozart, the Salzburg-based foundation said in a brief e-mail statement.
The Web site of the organization said its department of research had
identified the works, long in the foundation's possession, as Mozart
compositions.
Mozart, who was born in Salzburg, lived from 1756
to 1791. He played piano from an early age, began composing music when
he was 5, and eventually created more than 600 works, ranging from
operas to chamber music, choral pieces and piano concertos.
The foundation declined to provide more details Thursday, saying
specifics would be made public during a presentation in Salzburg on
Aug. 2.
During the event, Austrian musician Florian Birsak will perform the pieces on an original Mozart piano.
The foundation, established in 1880 and a prime source for
Mozart-related matters, seeks to preserve the composer's heritage and
find new approaches for analyzing him.
Discoveries such as the one announced Thursday are rare but not unheard of.
In September, Ulrich Leisinger, Mozarteum's head of research, said that
a French library had found another previously unknown piece of music
handwritten by Mozart.
The work, described as the preliminary
draft of a musical composition, was found in Nantes in western France
as library staff members were going through its archives. Leisinger
says the library contacted his foundation for help authenticating the
work.
There have been up to 10 Mozart discoveries of such importance over the past 50 years, Leisinger said at the time.