SALZBURG, Austria (AP) -- Technically demanding and at times furiously paced, two newly identified Mozart works unveiled Sunday are helping scholars complete their assessment of the maestro's very early achievements. The childhood creations – an extensive concerto movement and a fragmentary prelude – provide yet more proof the Salzburg native was a true prodigy. And maybe a bit of a showoff.
"We have here the first orchestral movement by the young Mozart – even though the orchestral parts are missing – and therefore it's an extremely important missing link in our understanding of Mozart's development as a young composer," said Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozarteum Foundation after a presentation of the pieces in Mozart's native Salzburg.
Mozart, who was born in 1756, began playing the keyboard at age 3 and composing at 5. By the time he died of rheumatic fever on Dec. 5, 1791, he had written more than 600 pieces.
Leisinger said Mozart likely wrote the two newly attributed pieces when he was 7 or 8 years old, with his father, Leopold, transcribing the notes as his son played them at the keyboard.
A series of analyses confirmed the writing as Leopold's; at the time Mozart was not yet versed in musical notation. But Leopold was ruled out as the composer of the pieces based on stylistic scrutiny, the Mozarteum said in a statement.
"There are obvious discrepancies between the technical virtuosity and a certain lack of compositional experience," it said.
At Sunday's presentation at the Mozart residence, Austrian musician Florian Birsak, an expert on early keyboard music, played the two pieces on the maestro's own fortepiano for a throng of reporters, photographers and camera crews.
7 Comments
maatcsays...Would love to see/hear it, but it is stuck at "Buffering..." for me
Blocked maybe?
ponceleonsays...I find the assertion that these are Mozart's and not Leopold's somewhat suspect. They are in Leopold's handwriting and the quote above states that Mozart wasn't writing music at the time.
I'm not saying that it is impossible that Mozart didn't come up with the music and Leopold wrote it down, but it seems like a stretch to me... I would love to see what the exact criteria was that eliminated Leopold as the composer.
I know a lot of Mozart and have to admit that I've only heard a few Leopold pieces, but listening to the excepts in the clip, I don't find it outlandish that Leopold could have composed that. If you listen to the Toy Symphony, you see a lot of the influence that the father had on the son.
"There are obvious discrepancies between the technical virtuosity and a certain lack of compositional experience,"
I'm sorry, but that just reeks of conjecture to me.
Still, upvote cuz it's damned interesting...
siftbotsays...Moving this video to MrFisk's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.
gwiz665says...I could buy that it was a Mozart piece. Still, I'd like to hear what ruled out papa leopold too.
Kruposays...Requested video is not available? Boo.
antsays...>> ^Krupo:
Requested video is not available? Boo.
*dead then!
siftbotsays...This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by ant.
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