Mozart works unvelied

Published on Sunday 2 August 2009 14:07

Austrian researchers have unveiled two recently identified childhood compositions by the legendary composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The International Mozarteum Foundation said today the piano pieces were part of Nannerl's Music Book, a well-known manuscript that, among other things, contains the prodigy's earliest compositions.

One is an extensive concerto movement and prelude probably created when Mozart was aged between seven– and eight-years-old.

The Salzburg-based foundation said analyses confirmed that Mozart's father transcribed the pieces as his young son, not yet versed in musical notation, played them on the keyboard.

Mozart lived from 1756 to 1791. He began composing music when he was five and eventually created more than 600 works.