Photo Credit: Mohamed Sadek for The New York Times
Hot on the heels of a new Mozart discovery in Leipzig, the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan has unearthed a nearly 200-year-old Frédéric Chopin piece.
The New York Times reports on the museum’s curator discovering the new piece in a collection of cultural memorabilia. Among postcards signed by Picasso and letters from Brahms and Tchaikovsky was a short musical scrap “about the size of an index card.”
Curator Robinson McClellan tells The NY Times he had his doubts about the origins of the piece after playing it himself. The manuscript’s ink and paper were tested, alongside the handwriting and musical style by consulting experts. The conclusion? The work is very likely a previously unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin. The piece was dated between 1830 and 1835 and has unique properties not present in any of Chopin’s other works.
While it is believed the piece is complete, it is shorter than Chopin’s other waltzes. The piece in key A minor features a triple forte near the start—an unusual choice for the classical composer. But curator McClellan says he has confidence in calling the piece a Chopin because the ink and paper are consistent with what the composer used at the time. The penmanship of the music notation also matches previously known handwritten examples of Chopin’s pieces—particularly the bass clef symbol.
“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 York Times asked pianist Lang Lang to perform the piece, which you can hear above. Lang Lang says the piece felt like Chopin, with the harsh opening intended to evoke harsh winters in the Polish country side. “This is not the most complicated music by Chopin,” Lang Lang says. “But it is one of the most authentic Chopin styles that you can imagine.”
The waltz was never published and remained hidden, potentially in the hands of collectors. It was acquired at some point by A. Sherrill Whiton Jr., a director of the New York School of Interior Design who died in 1972—a life-long classical music lover and Chopin fan. Whiton’s collection was given to the Morgan in 2019 by a friend who purchased them from Whiton’s wife, Jean. The collection went uncataloged for five years, partially due to the pandemic.