Mozart Manuscript Unearthed: Lost Flute and Harp Pieces Reveal His Bitter Lessons

Among a pile of unattributed documents at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a 44‑page notebook has been authenticated as a previously unknown manuscript by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The codex contains a series of composition lessons he gave in Paris in 1778 and includes six fully‑finished works for flute and harp that have never been heard before.

Curator François‑Pierre Goy uncovered the bundle in February 2026 while sorting through roughly twenty anonymous scores. Recognizing the hand from his prior study of Mozart’s autographs, he consulted colleagues at the library and specialists at the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, who together confirmed the attribution. The papers had lain untouched since they were seized from a Parisian home during the upheavals of the French Revolution.

Mozart’s Parisian Tutoring Sessions

The notebook records the instruction Mozart provided to Marie‑Louise‑Philippine de Bonnières de Guînes, the daughter of the Duc de Guînes, a diplomat and avid flautist who wished to compose music they could perform together. At the time, the 22‑year‑old Mozart had recently arrived in Paris hoping to revive his career and was contracted to teach the young noblewoman two hours each day.

Correspondence preserved by the Smithsonian reveals that Mozart quickly grew skeptical of his pupil’s abilities, writing to his father that she displayed “little musical invention” and that he had exhausted every technique he knew to spark her creativity. He described beginning with a simple minuet, asking her to vary it, then narrowing the task when she offered no response, ultimately observing her sit for fifteen minutes without producing a single phrase.

Mozart’s tone grew harsher as the lessons progressed. By July he wrote to his father that the young woman would never become a composer and labeled her attempts as futile. The BnF’s own notes indicate that the student herself seemed aware of these shortcomings. Their sessions abruptly ended when Marie‑Louise‑Philippine became engaged, and she stopped attending lessons on 26 July 1778.

Despite the tension, the notebook demonstrates a genuine collaboration: several exercises are penned entirely in the student’s hand, while others intermix both contributors. Six of the flute‑and‑harp pieces are complete, and the library asserts that the underlying ideas stem from Mozart, even though his private letters dismissed his pupil’s talent.

A Commission, a Dispute, and Revolutionary Seizure

The teaching sessions were linked to a broader commission. The Duc de Guînes had previously engaged Mozart to compose the Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299, and the newly uncovered manuscript references the same rare low‑C flute the duke obtained while serving as ambassador to London. That diplomatic posting ended in scandal: the duke faced trial—though he was narrowly acquitted—over allegations that he used privileged knowledge of the Falklands crisis to manipulate London stock trades.

When Mozart went to collect his fee, the duke refused a personal audience and sent a servant bearing only half of the agreed sum. Mozart rejected the partial payment outright, interpreting it as a deliberate insult, and later complained to his father that the duke’s treatment reduced him to “an unworthy foreigner.”

The duke’s fortunes reversed after the fall of the Bastille in 1789. According to the BnF, his residence on Rue de Varenne was raided in May 1794 during the Reign of Terror, and two bundles of music—including the notebook—were confiscated and incorporated into the national library’s collections the following year.

The six newly discovered works received their world‑premiere on 21 June 2026 in the BnF’s Salle Ovale, performed by flutist Mathilde Caldérini and harpist Nicolas Tulliez. The recording took place at Radio France’s Maison de la Radio et de la Musique. Armin Brinzing, director of the Bibliotheca Mozartiana in Salzburg, described the find as one of the most important Mozart discoveries in recent decades, noting that the manuscript allows scholars to trace the teacher‑student exchange measure by measure. The final exercise remains unfinished, and six blank pages conclude what appears to be the last lesson Mozart ever gave his pupil.