Mozart tune resurfaces
Fragment showcases composer's celeb status
Marieke Van der Vaart
Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: Arts
An unfinished Mozart Mass written four years before the composer's death in 1791 was rediscovered Sept. 18 in a French library, directing international attention to Mozart's music - again.
One of perhaps 100 such drafts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, experts estimate the fragment's worth at $100,000. It's the first piece historians have found since 1996, but one of 10 such finds in the last 50 years.
The page-long fragment consists of only a melody line - no tempo or key signature - and suggests Mozart's creative process began with a central tune. While it's unclear how Mozart incorporated the line into later works, some markings suggest he may have worked parts of it into a Mass, wire reports said.
Initial news reports suggested the discovery might help musicologists better understand Mozart's composition technique.
But Mozart expert at King's College in London Cliff Eisen told The Collegian the piece finds its value more in Mozart's celebrity status among cult followers than in its scholastic value.
Eisen contrasted the fragment with the discovery of a portrait of Mozart last March, a candid depiction of Mozart painted by his brother-in-law as early as 1783. Eisen said more than the music, the portrait sheds new light on Mozart's character.
"[The fragment] doesn't change our view of his [composing] method," he said. "It's just another little fragment, another holy relic."
Music Department Chairman James Holleman agreed and said despite world-wide excitement, the fragment doesn't further a performer's knowledge of how to perform Mozart's music and it doesn't help historians understand how Mozart composed.
"It's not like we've discovered the only sacred work of Mozart," Holleman said. "You constantly have to separate the person from the artist."
One of perhaps 100 such drafts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, experts estimate the fragment's worth at $100,000. It's the first piece historians have found since 1996, but one of 10 such finds in the last 50 years.
The page-long fragment consists of only a melody line - no tempo or key signature - and suggests Mozart's creative process began with a central tune. While it's unclear how Mozart incorporated the line into later works, some markings suggest he may have worked parts of it into a Mass, wire reports said.
Initial news reports suggested the discovery might help musicologists better understand Mozart's composition technique.
But Mozart expert at King's College in London Cliff Eisen told The Collegian the piece finds its value more in Mozart's celebrity status among cult followers than in its scholastic value.
Eisen contrasted the fragment with the discovery of a portrait of Mozart last March, a candid depiction of Mozart painted by his brother-in-law as early as 1783. Eisen said more than the music, the portrait sheds new light on Mozart's character.
"[The fragment] doesn't change our view of his [composing] method," he said. "It's just another little fragment, another holy relic."
Music Department Chairman James Holleman agreed and said despite world-wide excitement, the fragment doesn't further a performer's knowledge of how to perform Mozart's music and it doesn't help historians understand how Mozart composed.
"It's not like we've discovered the only sacred work of Mozart," Holleman said. "You constantly have to separate the person from the artist."
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