More than 175 years after his death, Frédéric Chopin continues to make people dance: an unpublished waltz by the Polish composer was discovered in a vault at the Morgan Library-Museum in New York, the New York Times reported.
The score, which had the words “Waltz” in French on its header, was discovered in a file by an establishment conservator during the spring, the newspaper reports.
“I said to myself, ‘What’s going on there? What could it be?'” curator Robinson McClellan told the New York Times, adding that he “didn’t recognize the music.”
He said he was initially unsure whether the waltz was actually composed by Frédéric Chopin after taking a photograph of the score and playing it on a piano at home.
The authenticated waltz
But Robinson McClellan later consulted an expert on the composer at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Morgan Library ultimately concluded that the waltz was authentic after an examination of the ink and paper.
The calligraphy also corresponded to that of Frédéric Chopin, including a bass clef and scribbles characteristic of the Polish genius who died in France in 1849.
“We are completely convinced of our findings,” Robinson McClellan told the New York Times.
According to the Morgan Library, the music dates from between 1830 and 1835, when Frédéric Chopin was in his twenties. The piece includes a stark opening and was described by famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang as containing “dramatic darkness that transforms into something positive.”
Source: BFM TV