2 New Mozart Pieces Found

(NEWSER) - Two pieces by a 7- or 8-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart went undiscovered for more than a century because they were written in his father Leopold’s hand, the New York Times reports. Austrian researchers have disclosed new details about the works after announcing the finding in July: The music consists of parts of a piano prelude and a concerto, and was hastily scrawled in the back of Mozart’s sister’s practice book. More»

Movement reconstructed using composer's sketches

(NEWSER) - After Beethoven scrapped a movement from a string quartet, it was lost to the world’s ears for two centuries. No longer: A music professor in Britain has recreated the piece using the composer’s sketches for every measure. The movement of String Quartet in G, Opus 18, No. 2 was performed for the first time in 200 years—perhaps the first time ever—at Manchester University, the Telegraph reports. More»

More and more musical geniuses crowding the field

(NEWSER) - So you can effortlessly play all of Chopin's piano études with flawless precision, style, and personality. Join the club. Being a young piano virtuoso is not the amazing feat as it used to be, writes Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times . "The overall level of technical proficiency in instrumental playing, especially on the piano, has increased steadily over time," writes Tommasini. "In the last decade or so, the growth of technical proficiency has seemed exponential." More»

Composer saw creatures emerging from piano

(NEWSER) - The 19th-century composer Frédéric Chopin suffered frightening hallucinations, ranging from ghosts to creatures coming out of his piano. Now, researchers believe the visions may have been prompted by temporal lobe epilepsy, the Daily Telegraph reports. The disease can cause short, detailed hallucinations, and “could easily have been overlooked by Chopin’s doctors,” researchers note in Medical Humanities . More»

Soothing classical sounds improve accuracy, doctor says

(NEWSER) - Just like on TV, real surgeons listen to music in the operating room—and it may make them better sawbones. Research by a Massachusetts doc suggests that some soothing Mozart improves accuracy when a surgeon repeats a surgical task. Silence ain’t bad, either—but hearing German folk music issue from one ear and death metal from the other, unsurprisingly appears less than helpful. More»