Chopin’s lost sheet music found 200 years after his death

Curators at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City discovered a musical manuscript believed to be by Polish pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin in the museum’s collection.

The work measures 4 by 5 inches, similar to other Chopin manuscripts, and is believed to have been originally intended as a gift, according to a Morgan Library and Museum press release.

Robinson McClellan, associate curator of Music Manuscripts and Printed Music at the Morgan Library & Museum, told Fox News Digital via email that this is the first discovery of a new work by Chopin since the 1930s.

“Chopin left it unsigned and unpublished, perhaps a sign that he felt an ambivalence about it, but he added performance cues like piano fingers and dynamics, indicating that he intended it to be performed,” McClellan said.

Library curators investigated the music alongside Chopin experts, who say the manuscript “is an important discovery in the world of classical piano music”.

The sheet music was discovered nearly 200 years after Chopin’s death. It is believed to have been written sometime between 1810-1849. Chopin died in 1849.

“The beginning of the piece is the most remarkable: several humorous, dissonant measures culminate in a loud explosion, before a melancholic melody begins. None of his popular waltzes begin this way, making this all the more intriguing,” the press release reads.

Chopin is said to write music in “minor forms,” ​​but this rare piece lasts about a minute.

“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens up new questions for scholars to consider about when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” McClellan said in the release.

The Morgan Library & Museum is home to more than 350,000 artifacts, rare books, manuscripts, drawings, prints and other works of art.

The discovered Chopin piece will be added to the Morgan collection and made available for visitors to study.

“We see this announcement as the beginning of the process, not the end. We hope that music lovers, pianists and scholars will study and absorb it and form their own opinions,” said McClellan.