A hitherto unknown waltz by the Polish composer Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) was discovered in the library of the Morgan Museum in New York. The New York Times reports this.
library curator Robinson McKellan I found a sheet of music while going through the file. The piece was labeled “Waltz” with “Chopin” written in cursive across the top.
McClellan, who is also a composer, photographed the manuscript and reproduced it at home. He had doubts about the authorship of the essay and sent a photo. Jeffrey Kallberga leading Chopin scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.
After examining the paper and ink of the manuscript, analyzing the handwriting and musical style, and consulting with outside experts, Morgan reached an important conclusion: the work was most likely an unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin, a great representative of the romantic era. The manuscript was the first discovery of its kind in the last 50 years.
The manuscript found dates back to the period between 1830 and 1835, when Chopin was about 20 years old. This work is shorter than Chopin’s famous waltzes, its duration is about 80 seconds, with only 48 measures, which are repeated.
Morgan states that he is confident in the authenticity of the waltz and points out several distinctive features of Chopin’s manuscripts: the paper and ink match those used by Chopin at the time, the handwriting matches that of the composer, and another Chopin manuscript in the possessions Morgan’s has a similar bass clef symbol.
As reported EADailyIn September of this year, Austrian and German scientists Paul Duncan AND Karsten Wollin identified the author of the composition, which was previously attributed to an unknown musician from the circle of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). They claim that the author of the composition is Mozart himself. We are talking about a work called “Milan Variations”, it is mentioned in the thematic index of Mozart’s works, but critics consider it “not Mozart”, its authorship is attributed to a composer from the genius’s entourage.
Another hitherto unknown youth work by the composer was discovered in the Leipzig library. The seven-movement Serenate ex C for string trio was probably written in honor of Mozart’s sister Nannerl; the young genius was between 10 and 13 years old at the time.
