New early work by Mozart performed in Leipzig - a big crowd

More than 260 years after it was written, a previously unknown early work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been performed in Germany for the first time. A long queue formed outside the Leipzig Opera to mark the occasion. The "Serenate ex C" was recently discovered in the Saxon city.

Two violinists and a cellist - young graduates of the Leipzig "Johann Sebastian Bach" School of Music - played the short piece in the opera house in the completely full foyer. Dozens of people waited outside the building. The trio repeated the piece twice on the steps to the opera house in the open air. The performance was free of charge.

The copy of the composition from the Carl Ferdinand Becker collection, made around 1780, is part of the holdings of the municipal libraries in Leipzig. It came to light in the course of work on the new edition of the Köchel-Verzeichnis, which was compiled by the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg. It is regarded as a reference work on Mozart's musical output. It is thought to have been written in the mid to late 1760s.

Scholars convinced of Mozart's authorship

Mozart (1756-1791) is said to have written it between the ages of ten and 13. His youthful work, which has remained unnoticed until now, is also referred to as the "Ganz kleine Nachtmusik" in the new Köchel-Verzeichnis and is listed under the number KV 648. It consists of seven miniature movements for string trio, which together only last around twelve minutes.