This Lost Mozart Composition Resurfaces After Centuries

In a surprising find, researchers in Germany recently uncovered a 12-minute piece of music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Titled Serenade in C, this forgotten work is believed to have been written by Mozart when he was just a teenager. 

The piece was tucked away in the collection of Leipzig Municipal Libraries, about 280 miles from Salzburg, Austria, where Mozart was born in 1756. By the time he was just 5, he was already wowing audiences across Europe, performing for royals and aristocrats. As a teenager, Mozart’s talent as a composer started to shine, with stints in Salzburg and Vienna before he set off to Italy in 1769 to further his music career.

Researchers believe Mozart likely wrote this newly found piece sometime in the mid- to late-1760s. While working on the Köchel catalog, which archives all of Mozart’s compositions, the team at Leipzig Municipal Libraries came across a handwritten manuscript in brown ink. The discovery happened by chance, hidden among other materials in the library’s collection.

The composition is credited to the composer, but the handwriting doesn’t match Mozart’s, indicating that this is likely a copy of the original. Researchers believe this version was written around 1780, possibly as a reproduction of Mozart’s work.

According to a statement from the International Mozarteum Foundation, Serenade in C is made up of seven short movements, written for a string trio featuring two violins and a bass. 

Researchers note that the music’s style matches other pieces Mozart wrote between the ages of 10 and 13 in the 1760s. Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the Mozarteum Foundation, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) that by the time Mozart was in his late teens, his compositions had evolved and he wasn’t creating works like this anymore.

By the time Mozart passed away at 35, after falling ill, he had created more than 600 works. Some of his most well-known and lasting pieces include Requiem in D Minor, the Jupiter Symphony and operas like Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro.

The recently found Serenade in C has been given a new name in the Köchel catalog—Ganz kleine Nachtmusik—likely as a nod to Mozart’s well-known Eine kleine Nachtmusik. On September 19, during the catalogue’s unveiling in Salzburg, a string trio performed the piece for the first time. Just a few days later, on September 21, it was played again for a full house at the Leipzig Opera.