Unknown Mozart piece discovered in Leipzig

A previously unknown early work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been discovered in Leipzig. It is the twelve-minute "Serenate ex C" from the collection of Carl Ferdinand Becker and was in the holdings of the Music Library of the Leipzig Municipal Libraries, as the city announced.

The copy was discovered while working on the new edition of the Köchel-Verzeichnis, which is being compiled by the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg and is considered a reference work on Mozart's musical oeuvre. It is thought to have been written in the mid to late 1760s - Mozart (1756-1791) must have just become a teenager.

The composition was presented on Thursday at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg. On Saturday (September 21), the piece will be presented and performed at the Leipzig Opera.