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French Curator Unearths Rare Mozart Manuscript

This photograph taken on June 15, 2026, shows an original fragment of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music handwritten notebook at Richelieu Library (Bibliotheque Nationale de France-National Library of France-BnF) in Paris. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
This photograph taken on June 15, 2026, shows an original fragment of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music handwritten notebook at Richelieu Library (Bibliotheque Nationale de France-National Library of France-BnF) in Paris. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
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French Curator Unearths Rare Mozart Manuscript

This photograph taken on June 15, 2026, shows an original fragment of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music handwritten notebook at Richelieu Library (Bibliotheque Nationale de France-National Library of France-BnF) in Paris. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
This photograph taken on June 15, 2026, shows an original fragment of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music handwritten notebook at Richelieu Library (Bibliotheque Nationale de France-National Library of France-BnF) in Paris. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)

Musicians this weekend will for the first time publicly interpret music for flute and harp that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote as a 22-year-old while teaching an aristocratic French student.

The unprecedented concert on Sunday at France's National Library (BnF) comes after what it has called a "major discovery.”

Francois-Pierre Goy, a curator in the library's music department, stumbled across the treasure as he examined a pile of anonymous manuscripts he wanted to get through before retirement.

"I never imagined what I was about to find," he told AFP.

The 44-page notebook includes a dozen daily exercises the Austrian prodigy gave Marie-Louise-Philippine de Bonnieres de Guines from May to July 1778, as well as seven pieces for flute and harp, he said.

She was an excellent harpist and the daughter of the Duke of Guines, himself a renowned flutist.

"It just so happened that I had been looking at some of Mozart's teaching material a few weeks earlier," Goy said.

Soon he noticed similarities -- including "the treble clefs that are quite rounded and tilted slightly forward,” and the bass clefs drawn in the opposite direction from how they usually are in France, he added.

"Could it be him?" Goy said he thought to himself.

Comparisons with Mozart's other handwritten works, the French paper used, and stamps on the notebook identical to those on a French copy of Mozart's "Concerto for Flute and Harp" that the Duke of Guines had commissioned all seemed to indicate he was right.

Armin Brinzing, director of the Austria-based Mozarteum Foundation, authenticated the document in April.

The manuscript "is part of two bundles of music that were confiscated from the home of the Duke of Guines in 1794" during the French Revolution, and eventually ended up at the BnF, according to the library.

Mozart died in 1791 aged 35.

Discoveries like this "for such a famous composer are almost unheard of,” said Mathias Auclair, director of the BnF's music department.

Several Mozart compositions have been rediscovered in recent years.

In one case, in 2012, someone found a Mozart piano piece composed when he was 11 in an Austrian attic.

For harpists and flautists, who have "very little repertoire" available to them, the discovery at the BnF is a wonderful surprise, he said.

BnF president Gilles Pecout said the new music sheets shed light on Mozart as a young teacher and documented his last stay in Paris in 1778 -- on which there is scant information.

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Culture

Archaeology Team Unearths 'Prototype' of World-famous Stonehenge Monument Just a Few Miles Away

This photo provided by Wessex Archaeology shows archaeologist Phil Harding standing at Stonehenge in May 2026, near Salisbury, England. (Wessex Archaeology via AP)
This photo provided by Wessex Archaeology shows archaeologist Phil Harding standing at Stonehenge in May 2026, near Salisbury, England. (Wessex Archaeology via AP)
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Archaeology Team Unearths 'Prototype' of World-famous Stonehenge Monument Just a Few Miles Away

This photo provided by Wessex Archaeology shows archaeologist Phil Harding standing at Stonehenge in May 2026, near Salisbury, England. (Wessex Archaeology via AP)
This photo provided by Wessex Archaeology shows archaeologist Phil Harding standing at Stonehenge in May 2026, near Salisbury, England. (Wessex Archaeology via AP)

Archaeologists revealed Thursday that they have discovered a structure near the prehistoric stone circle of Stonehenge in southern England that may have served as a “prototype” for the 5,000-year-old Neolithic monument.

A team from the British firm Wessex Archaeology said the structure would have consisted of two wooden poles 120 meters (394 feet) apart and aligned to point directly at the rising sun during the summer solstice and the setting sun at the winter solstice.

Researchers said the discovery predated Stonehenge by around 500 years, The Associated Press reported.

The team was led by archaeologist Phil Harding, who is well known in the UK through his many years of excavations for Channel 4 TV series “Time Team.”

Harding, 76, said the site, which also turned up a treasure trove of finds including pottery, animal bones and a rare disc-shaped knife, was likely to have been a focus for major religious gatherings.

“Opportunities like this probably only come once in a career, in a lifetime,” Harding said. “I’m probably towards the end of my career now, but thank God I’m still in archaeology long enough to be part of this discovery, because it’s certainly the highlight of my career.”

The findings were released ahead of the summer solstice, which falls this year on Sunday, when thousands head to Stonehenge each year to celebrate the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Stonehenge is a symbol of British culture and history and remains one of the country’s biggest tourist draws. The World Heritage Site was built on the flat lands of Salisbury Plain in stages starting 5,000 years ago, with the unique stone circle erected in the late Neolithic period about 2,500 B.C.

The site’s meaning has been the subject of vigorous debate. The most generally accepted interpretation is that it was a temple aligned with movements of the sun — lining up perfectly with the summer and winter solstices.

Researchers who found the structure near Stonehenge carried out the dig at Bulford, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the main stone circle, as part of archaeological work to support the British defense ministry's program to accommodate troops who have been withdrawn in recent years from Germany, where the army had a big footprint for decades. The area around Stonehenge is one of the largest military training grounds and in the UK and Bulford is home to a barracks.

The original excavation took place between 2015 and 2017, with the findings requiring many years of analyses and tests.

English Heritage said other theories about Stonehenge include that it was a coronation place for Danish kings, a druid temple, a cult center for healing, or an astronomical computer for predicting eclipses and solar events.

Whatever the explanation, thousands of people, many dressed as druids and pagans, will gather at the site on Sunday to see the sun rise.

“What few will realize is that 5,000 years ago on a nearby hillside overlooking modern day Bulford, people were doing the exact same thing — revering and celebrating the sunrise on Midsummer’s Day,” said Harding.

Culture

Saudi Culture Ministry Launches Guide to Boost International Cultural Trade

The Saudi Culture Ministry will oversee the national pavilion with participation from several entities
The Saudi Culture Ministry will oversee the national pavilion with participation from several entities
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Saudi Culture Ministry Launches Guide to Boost International Cultural Trade

The Saudi Culture Ministry will oversee the national pavilion with participation from several entities
The Saudi Culture Ministry will oversee the national pavilion with participation from several entities

The Ministry of Culture launched the guide to the international cultural trade journey in Saudi Arabia in a regulatory step aimed at enabling cultural exchange, facilitating the import and export of cultural goods and services, and boosting the presence of Saudi culture in regional and international markets, in line with the objectives of the National Culture Strategy under Saudi Vision 2030.

The guide provides a comprehensive framework outlining the international cultural trade journey across its various stages, beginning with an introduction to the cultural sector in the Kingdom and its sub-sectors, followed by an overview of import and export pathways, the identification of supporting and enabling entities, and related regulatory and operational guidelines, SPA reported.

The guide serves as a practical reference for stakeholders, including practitioners, creators, cultural companies, government entities, and investors.

The guide also addresses culture-related goods and services as vehicles for identity, values, and ways of life. It presents their classifications across various cultural sectors, including literature, publishing and translation, music, visual arts, film, theater and performing arts, heritage, museums, and other fields, while clarifying the regulatory and procedural requirements for cross-border trade to ensure compliance with regulations, protect cultural content, and safeguard intellectual property rights.

Publishing the guide is part of the ministry's efforts to build a sustainable cultural sector that diversifies the national economy, enhances the Kingdom's soft power through organized cultural exchange, and expands culture-related exports and imports within Saudi Arabia and around the world.

Culture

Literature Commission Inaugurates Saudi Pavilion at Beijing International Book Fair 2026

The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China. (SPA)
The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China. (SPA)
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Literature Commission Inaugurates Saudi Pavilion at Beijing International Book Fair 2026

The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China. (SPA)
The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia’s Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission inaugurated on Wednesday the Kingdom’s pavilion at the Beijing International Book Fair 2026 that runs through June 21, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China.

CEO of the commission Dr. Abdullatif Al-Wasel said the pavilion aims to introduce Saudi literary and intellectual production to Asian audiences, highlight developments in the Kingdom's literature, publishing, and translation sectors, and raise awareness of the Saudi cultural scene through an accompanying program featuring panel discussions and poetry evenings with Saudi writers and intellectuals.

The commission also seeks to strengthen the presence of Saudi publishers in international forums and build professional partnerships with stakeholders in China's publishing industry, supporting opportunities for translation exchange and cultural cooperation, he added.