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The work was found in an attic of a private home in Tyrol
Mozart is thought to have composed it around the age of 11
The piece, 84 measures in length, is meant to be played "very quick"
A previously unknown piano work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was performed Friday at the maestro’s home in Salzburg, the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation said.
The piece, recently unearthed in Austria, was played by noted pianist Florian Birsak.
It was discovered in an attic of a private home in Tyrol, the foundation said, inside a handwritten book with more than 160 pages. Works by Mozart’s father were found within the same book.
The piece, 84 measures in length, is marked “Allegro molto” – meaning it is meant to be played “very quick.” It is thought to date from around 1767, which would mean Mozart wrote the work when he was about 11 years old.
Most convincingly, perhaps, the piece contains the words “Del Signore Giovane Wolfgango Mozart,” or “by the junior Mr. Wolfgang Mozart.” Mozart’s father was known to use the name, “Wolfgango,” to identify his son’s work.
“Throughout the Allegro molto, thematic formation, compositional setting and harmony have a number of components that are found repeated in other Mozart piano works,” the foundation said in a statement. “According to current scholarly knowledge, it must therefore be regarded as an authentic sonata movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.”
Mozart, one of the world’s best-known classical composers, was born in Salzburg in 1756.
CNN’s Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.
