Three 18th century musical scores discovered in a collection at Poland's Jasna Gora monastery may be the work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, experts say.

The musical scores identified as 18th century manuscript copies "correspond to the style" of the period and "their character allows us to suppose Mozart was their author," musicologist Remigiusz Pospiech told Poland's Polska daily.

The three scores are among 18 musical manuscripts attributed to the Austrian genius in the Jasna Gora monastery's vast archive at Czestochowa, but do not figure in the Koechel catalogue of Mozart's complete works.

A special commission has already started analysing the authenticity of 18 scores which are signed with the name of the Austrian composer, Polskie Radio says. The notes under examination were put on paper by 18th century copyists. 

Polish specialists have already contacted experts in Vienna and Salzburg, Mozart's birthplace in Austria, focused on music in the period between 1756 and 1791, according to Pospiech.

"If we are indeed dealing with a work of Mozart, it is rather his later period in Vienna," he says, adding that "more study is required to confirm this hypothesis."

Archives at the Jasna Gora monastery hold some 3,000 manuscripts of musical scores, collected over the centuries for the needs of its orchestra.

The Monastery of Jasna Góra in Czestochowa, Poland, is the third largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world. Home to the beloved miraculous icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the monastery is also the national shrine of Poland and the centre of Polish Catholicism.

SOURCE

Three mystery musical scores attributed to Mozart (ABC News, 25/5/08)

Mozart manuscripts in Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa? (Polskie Radio, 24/5/08)

LINKS

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Wikipedia)

Jasna Gora Monastery (Wikipedia)