A previously unknown composition by 19th-century composer Frédéric Chopin has been unearthed by a museum curator in Manhattan, New York.
Robinson McClellan, a curator and composer at the Morgan Library & Museum discovered the piece while sorting through a collection of cultural memorabilia within the vault at the museum on Madison Ave.
According to The New York Times, Chopin’s composition was written on a pockmarked musical scrap roughly the size of an index card with the composer’s name on it. After testing the piece’s paper and ink as well as analysing the handwriting, the musical style and consulting outside experts, the Museum has confirmed that the unearthed composition is most likely an unknown waltz by Chopin. The piece marks the first of its kind to be discovered in over half a century.
The manuscript is said to have been from the years 1830 and 1835, meaning that the Composer wrote the piece in his early 20s. The composition is believed to be complete and appears to be shorter than his previous waltzes, coming in at only 48 measures long with a repeat, or about 80 seconds. Prior to his death in 1849 at the age of 39, Chopin had written roughly 250 known works – far less than what his more prolific contemporaries had composed during their lifetimes.
“We have total confidence in our conclusion,” McClellan told The New York Times. “Now it’s time to put it out there for the world to take a look and form its own opinions.”
The new discovery comes about a month after a previously unknown composition by 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was unearthed at a library in Germany.
The newly discovered piece – which is referred to as Ganz kleine Nachtmusik – has been estimated to be dated somewhere around the mid-to-late 1760s. It is comprised of seven miniature movements for a string trio lasting about 12 minutes. According to The Guardian, the unknown piece of music was probably created when the music virtuoso was only in his teens.
