Newly uncovered Mozart manuscript gets world premiere in France

The French National Library recovered a previously unknown manuscript by the world-famous Austrian composer, bringing to light seven new pieces for flute and harp. After 31 years as a conservator for the French National Library, musicologist François-Pierre Goy was slowly preparing to retire. On 2 February, he was going through manuscripts in one of the institution's storehouses when he stumbled upon an unknown notebook. Inside, he found 44 pages of sheet music from 1778. Goy, who is in charge of pre-1800 collections at the library's Music Department, thought he recognised the handwriting and style of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Unsure of his discovery, he sought the opinion of his colleague Laurence Decobert, who had previously curated an exhibition on Mozart’s relationship with France. Decobert confirmed his intuition and in April, Armin Brinzing, from the Bibliotheca Mozartiana at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, definitively authenticated the document. Goy had laid his hands on an unreleased manuscript by the Austrian master. “This is one of the most important discoveries in recent decades,” National Library President Gilles Pécout said in a press release. The finding was kept secret for months, but on Monday, France Musique radio aired the world premiere of Mozart’s seven pieces for flute and harp, performed by flutist Mathilde Caldérini and harpist Nicolas Tulliez from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. “It is an exceptional honour for any musical ensemble to bring a forgotten work by Mozart back to life,” Radio France President Sibyle Veil said in a statement. “That this world premiere should be entrusted to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is a testament to the excellence of its musicians and their commitment to the transmission of our musical heritage,” she added. The newfound works, a series of delicate, short exercises, are a welcome addition to Mozart’s otherwise slim repertoire for these two instruments. They also offer insight into the composer’s time in Paris. Indeed, a 22-year-old Mozart stayed in the French capital from March to September 1778. In this time, he was asked to give composition lessons to Marie-Louise-Philippine de Bonnières de Guînes, an accomplished harpist and daughter of a diplomat. The recovered notebook is a testament to this professorial work. While her father was convinced of her genius, Mademoiselle de Guînes proved to be a poor composer and Mozart deplored “his pupil’s lack of musical invention” in a letter to his own father, the National Library recounted. If the master’s tutoring did not lead to grand sonatas, the pair did manage to complete six composition exercices, which most likely “start from ideas put forward by Mozart himself.” The lessons were suspended when Mademoiselle de Guînes married in July 1778, and the last piece remained unfinished. The manuscript will remain in the care of the French National Library, which hosts the third largest collection of autograph musical manuscripts by Mozart after Salzburg and Berlin. Meanwhile, the music is just waiting to resonate in concert halls around the world.