Mozart manuscript discovery yields new music for flute and harp

Musicians will publicly perform for the first time music for flute and harp composed by a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was 22 years old when he wrote it while teaching an aristocratic French student.

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I never imagined what I was about to find.

The concert, scheduled for Sunday at France's National Library (BnF), follows what the library has called a "major discovery." Francois-Pierre Goy, a curator in the BnF's music department, found the manuscript while examining a collection of anonymous works.

The 44-page notebook contains a dozen daily exercises Mozart provided to Marie-Louise-Philippine de Bonnieres de Guines between May and July 1778, along with seven pieces for flute and harp. The student was an accomplished harpist and the daughter of the Duke of Guines, a renowned flutist himself.

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the treble clefs that are quite rounded and tilted slightly forward,” and the bass clefs drawn in the opposite direction from how they usually are in France

Goy noticed similarities between the manuscript and Mozart's known works, including distinctive treble clefs and bass clefs drawn in a specific direction. Comparisons with other Mozart manuscripts, the paper used, and stamps on the notebook further supported the attribution. Armin Brinzing of the Austria-based Mozarteum Foundation authenticated the document in April.

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Could it be him?

The manuscript is believed to be part of music confiscated from the Duke of Guines' home in 1794 during the French Revolution. "Discoveries like this for such a famous composer are almost unheard of," said Mathias Auclair, director of the BnF's music department. The newly found music offers insights into Mozart as a young teacher and documents his final stay in Paris in 1778, a period for which historical information is scarce.

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is part of two bundles of music that were confiscated from the home of the Duke of Guines in 1794