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Ganz kleine Nachtmusik

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Ganz kleine Nachtmusik
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Portrait of Mozart at age 13 (January 1770)
EnglishQuite Little Night Music
KeyC major
CatalogueK. 648
Composedmid to late 1760s
Durationabout 12 minutes
Movements7
ScoringString trio

Ganz kleine Nachtmusik (German for Quite (or Very) Little Night Music), K. 648,[1] also known as Serenade in C,[2] is a composition for string trio by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), written in the mid to late 1760s. It was named by the Leipzig municipal libraries, where the piece's re-discovery was announced in September 2024.

Composition

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The piece itself is a string trio (for two violins and one cello) written while Mozart was a young teenager, apparently before his first trip to Italy. It consists of "seven miniature movements for a string trio lasting about 12 minutes" according to the Leipzig libraries.[3] It might be identical to the lost "Little night music" K. 41g, or the lost Cassation in C, K. 653.[4]

Rediscovery

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While compiling the Köchel catalogue's newest edition – an authoritative list of all of Mozart's documented musical works – classical music researchers rediscovered the manuscript of the previously unknown piece from the Carl Ferdinand Becker collection in Leipzig's music library. The researchers reported that the manuscript was in "dark brown ink on medium-white handmade paper" with individually bound parts. The manuscript was believed not to be an original manuscript written by Mozart, but a copy produced in 1780.[1][3]

German musicologist Ulrich Leisinger, speaking for the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, stated that the piece was unique compared to other pieces produced by Mozart at the time, which were primarily arias, symphonies, and piano music.[5]

On 19 September 2024, the rediscovered piece was first played for a modern audience at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, by Haruna Shinoyama and Neža Klinar (violins), Philipp Comploi (cello) and Florian Birsak (harpsichord),[6] with a further performance in Germany on 21 September by Vincent and David Geer (violins) and Elisabeth Zimmermann (cello) at the Leipzig Opera.[3][7][8]

The first commercial recording was released by Deutsche Grammophon featuring the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Herbert Blomstedt on 18 October 2024.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "'Ganz kleine Nachtmusik': Unbekanntes Mozart-Stück in Leipzig entdeckt" ['Ganz kleine Nachtmusik': Unknown Mozart piece discovered in Leipzig]. City of Leipzig (in German). 19 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  2. ^ Anderson, Sonja (24 September 2024). "This Lost Mozart Composition Hasn't Been Heard for Centuries. Now, You Can Listen to It". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Previously unknown Mozart music discovered in German library". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 19 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  4. ^ Köchel-Verzeichnis: KV 648, Serenade in C for 2 violins and basso
  5. ^ "Unknown Mozart string trio discovered in Germany". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 19 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  6. ^ Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg (19 September 2024). Präsentation neues Köchel-Verzeichnis. Retrieved 23 September 2024 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ "Im Video: Premiere von Mozart-Frühwerk in Leipzig löst Riesen-Andrang aus". Leipziger Volkszeitung (in German). 21 September 2024. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  8. ^ W. A. Mozart – Eine ganz kleine Nachtmusik (Leipzig-Premiere) on YouTube Retrieved 2024-09-22.
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