Paris: Mozart manuscript discovered – it will be performed for the first time today
The text of the score, discovered by the National Library of France and which has remained anonymous to this day,
Key points
The National Library of France (BnF) has announced the discovery of an autograph manuscript by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which had previously remained anonymous and untitled, dating from the late 18th century.
The discovery
The discovery in Paris took place on 2 February, when François-Pierre Goy, curator in charge of the BnF’s pre-1800 music collections, examined a music notebook held in the library’s collections. Among the various handwritings found in the volume, one was identified as belonging to Mozart.
The attribution was subsequently verified by musicologist Laurence Decobert, former curator of the exhibition “Mozart, a French passion” organised by the BnF in 2017, and finally confirmed in April 2026 by Armin Brinzing, director of the Bibliotheca Mozartiana at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. The manuscript contains composition exercises and seven pieces for flute and harp.
Dating the manuscript
The use of French paper and the contents of the notebook suggest that it dates from the composer’s last stay in Paris, in 1778.
According to scholars, the document is linked to the lessons Mozart gave daily between May and July of that year to Marie-Louise-Philippine de Bonnières de Guînes, a young harpist and daughter of the Duke of Guînes, Adrien-Louis de Bonnières de Souastre. The latter was also the patron who commissioned the famous Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299.
