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Handwritten Mozart letter fetches $217,000 at auction

This image obtained on October 15, 2015 courtesy of RR Auction shows a rare letter written by Mozart which sold for $217,000. ©AFP

A rare handwritten letter by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has sold for $217,000 at a US auction.

The one-page German note, which is believed to have been written in July or August 1786, was sold on Thursday.

The letter was addressed to scientist, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, asking him to return three music scores via a messenger.

"I ask you to send me by the bearer of this, the Quartet in G minor, the Sonata in Eb and the 'New Trio in G,'" it reads.

The pieces referenced are Mozart's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor published in 1785, Violin Sonata No. 33 in Eb major from 1785, and Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in G major.

The Boston-based firm RR Auction said Mozart finished the trio on July 8, 1786, adding that the letter was written shortly afterward.

“Mozart letters are among the most sought after all musical autographs," Bobby Livingston, the executive vice president at the RR Auction, said, adding that “this is a truly outstanding example.”

Mozart was born in Salzburg, an Austrian city on the German border in 1756. He is considered one of the greatest composers of all time. His wealth of operas, concertos, symphonies and chamber music profoundly shaped classical music. He died at the age of 35 in Vienna in 1791.


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