Mozart Treasures from Salzburg on Exhibition in New York

Armin Brinzing

Thursday, April 16, 2026

The International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg owns one of the world’s most significant Mozart collections, which originated from gifts and bequests from the Mozart family. For a remarkable exhibition, a significant part of this collection has traveled to the United States for the first time. They are on display at the Morgan Library & Museum in the exhibition “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Treasures from the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg.” The Salzburg originals are complemented by valuable paintings, manuscripts, and prints from the Morgan Library and a major private collection.

The diversity of the artefacts paints a particularly vivid picture of Mozart’s life and work: the exhibition brings together the most significant Mozart portraits, musical instruments that belonged to him, original letters, autograph scores, and other documents. Also included are original memorabilia such as Mozart’s wallet, valuable first editions, as well as portraits of contemporaries and family members.

After Mozart’s death, several important originals were separated; some of them could now be reunited and displayed together again after a very long time. For example, the Morgan Library owns two pages containing the earliest compositions by the five-year-old Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (K. 1a–d). In the early 19th century, these were cut out of the so-called “Nannerl Music Book,” which came into the possession of the Mozarteum Foundation in 1864. These very special works by Mozart can now be admired together with the entire music book for the first time in 200 years. The volume was compiled in 1759 by Leopold Mozart for the piano lessons of Mozart’s sister Maria Anna (“Nannerl”). Little Wolfgang also learned to play the piano using this book, and soon his first compositions were jotted down in it as well.

The exhibition can be viewed at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York through the end of May.

Link to the website of The Morgan Library & Museum: https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/mozart

Image: Leopold Mozart (1719–1787), Music book for Maria Anna (“Nannerl”) Mozart. Manuscript, begun in 1759. Source: International Mozarteum Foundation, Bibliotheca Mozartiana (RISM Catalog | RISM Online).

Catégorie: Evénements