Possible ‘new’ Mozart work identified in Graz

A possible "new" work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been identified in the holdings of the Styrian Provincial Archives in Graz. The piece, titled the Milan Variations, had previously been mentioned in the Köchel catalogue, the comprehensive listing of Mozart's compositions, but it was not assigned a number because it was considered "un-Mozartian." However, German scholar Carsten Wollin has now attributed the work to Mozart.

The Milan Variations were composed around the time Archduke Ferdinand Karl, the fourth son of Empress Maria Theresa, married Maria Beatrice d'Este in Milan on October 15, 1771. Mozart, who was 15 at the time, wrote the opera Ascanio in Alba for the wedding celebrations. The Milan Variations were composed simultaneously, but their authorship had long remained uncertain, according to an announcement by the Province of Styria on Sunday. The cycle has only been mentioned three times in musicological literature and has never been published. This work, presumed not to have been performed in over 250 years, fills a gap of at least seven years during which no known piano compositions by Mozart exist.

The manuscript of the Milan Variations is part of the "Lannoy Collection" at the Styrian Provincial Archives, named after collector Heinrich Eduard Josef von Lannoy, who passed away in 1853. The first publication of the Milan Variations, along with Carsten Wollin's academic study of their origin, was recently released by Ortus Musikverlag.