A previously unknown piece of music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been discovered at a library in Germany.
Per Agence France-Presse, a statement from the Leipzig Municipal Libraries says the piece of music dates to the mid-to-late 1760s, and is estimated to have been written when the composer was in his early teens.
Researchers found the composition of seven movements for a string trio while compiling the latest edition of the Köchel catalogue, a chronological catalogue of Mozart's compositions first published in 1863.
Running about 12 minutes in length, the piece was performed today by a string trio at the unveiling of the new Köchel catalogue in the Austrian city of Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart. Its German premiere will come Saturday (September 21) at the Leipzig Opera.
Researchers said the newly discovered manuscript was not written by Mozart himself but is believed to be a copy made in about 1780, its three parts bound individually with notation in dark brown ink on medium-white, handmade paper.
A list by Mozart's father had alerted academics to the existence of "many other chamber music compositions" by the young artist, which were all thought to have been lost until the emergence of the piece for string trio, Ulrich Leisinger of the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg said in a statement [via AFP].