Lost Mozart Music Performed for the First Time Since 1778
On 21 June 2026, audiences in Paris witnessed a truly extraordinary moment in music history: the first public performance of previously unknown music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The works, discovered earlier this year in a manuscript held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, had remained unheard since they were written during Mozart’s stay in Paris in 1778. Nearly two and a half centuries later, they finally came to life before a modern audience as part of the annual Fête de la Musique celebrations.
The newly uncovered manuscript contains seven short pieces and compositional exercises for flute and harp. Musicologists believe the works were created during lessons Mozart gave to Marie-Louise-Philippine de Guînes, a gifted young musician and daughter of one of his Parisian patrons. The notebook offers a rare glimpse into Mozart’s role not only as a composer and performer, but also as a teacher.
The premiere took place at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, where musicians from Radio France presented selections from the manuscript. For those in attendance, the occasion represented a unique opportunity to hear music that had effectively been lost to history since the eighteenth century.
Discoveries of previously unknown works by major composers are exceptionally rare. In Mozart’s case, whose life and catalogue have been studied in extraordinary detail for generations, such a find is particularly remarkable. The manuscript not only enriches our understanding of his creative output but also sheds new light on his daily musical activities during one of the most challenging periods of his life.
Perhaps most fascinating is the thought that, in an age when Mozart’s music is performed somewhere in the world every minute of every day, entirely new pages of his musical legacy can still emerge. The Paris manuscript reminds us that even after nearly 270 years, Mozart continues to surprise us.
For musicians, scholars, and music lovers alike, the event was more than a historical curiosity. It was a rare chance to experience the thrill of discovery and to hear, for the very first time, music written by one of history’s greatest composers.
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