Mozart's "Lesson Notebook" from Age 22, Teaching Composition to His Student, Discovered

Confirmed among the holdings of the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Archived as anonymous... 44-page handwritten score

A "Lesson Notebook" written by composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) when he was 22 years old, while teaching composition to the daughter of a duke in Paris, has been discovered among the holdings of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), drawing significant attention.

According to Yonhap News on June 20, the BnF announced the previous day that it had discovered and authenticated a 44-page musical notebook written by Mozart during his last stay in Paris in 1778. This notebook had been stored as an anonymous, untitled document from the late 18th century, but after a comprehensive review of the French-made paper, handwriting, contents, and acquisition history, it was determined to be a document that includes Mozart’s own handwriting. The notebook also contains seven newly discovered pieces for flute and harp, six of which are believed to be complete.

A 'Lesson Notebook' containing the contents of the composition lessons Mozart gave to his student when he was 22 years old has been discovered. Photo by Yonhap News, released by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)

Experts believe this notebook was used by Mozart when he taught composition to Marie-Louise-Philippine de Bonnier de Guînes (1759–1795) from May to July 1778. The lessons ended when the student married on July 26, 1778. The student played the harp, and her father, Duke Adrien-Louis de Bonnier de Guînes (1735–1806), played the flute. Both father and daughter were reportedly highly skilled musicians.

The Duke of Guînes also commissioned Mozart to compose a piece that he and his daughter could perform together, resulting in the famous "Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major," KV 299. Valuing his daughter's talent, the Duke wanted her to develop the ability to compose "grand sonatas" they could perform together, so he arranged for her to take composition lessons with Mozart.

This discovery goes beyond the mere emergence of previously unpublished sheet music. It is the earliest surviving physical evidence of how Mozart, as a young composer and teacher, explained and trained his students in composition. In a letter to his father, Leopold Mozart (1719–1787), dated May 14, 1778, Mozart commented that while the student played the harp excellently, she lacked ideas and imagination in composition. Mozart wrote that he would compose the first four bars of a minuet and then have the student continue or alter it, a teaching method that matches the contents of the discovered notebook.

A "Lesson Notebook" containing lessons Mozart gave on composition to a student when he was 22 years old has been discovered. Photo by Yonhap News, from the National Library of France (BnF) public photos

The relationship between the Duke of Guînes and his daughter and Mozart did not end well. In a letter to his father, Mozart expressed dissatisfaction with the payment of lesson and composition fees by the Duke’s family, stating that he would rather receive nothing than only a portion of the promised amount.

The BnF believes this document was part of "two bundles of music materials" seized from the Duke’s residence in Paris’s Varennes district in May 1794, during the French Revolution, and later became part of the library’s collection. The discovery was made in February of this year when François-Pierre Goy, the curator in charge of pre-1800 collections in the BnF’s music department, was reviewing anonymous musical notebooks. He found the notebook as he was organizing a pile of anonymous materials before his retirement.

Curator Goy told AFP, "I had no idea what I was about to discover." He explained, "Coincidentally, I had reviewed Mozart’s teaching materials just a few weeks earlier, and I recognized the characteristics of Mozart’s handwriting, such as the quite rounded and slightly forward-leaning treble clef and the bass clef drawn in the opposite direction from the usual French style."

Regarding the discovery, Gilles Pecout, director of the BnF, stated, "It is one of the most important finds in recent decades," adding, "It documents Mozart’s last stay in Paris and reveals the daily interactions and activities of a young teacher, Mozart, with his student."

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