A handwritten letter by the legendary composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) recently sold for an eye-popping €440,000 (approximately $462,000) at an online auction.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur said the bidding began at €100,000 (approx. $105,000) but quickly soared. Despite strong interest from bidders in the U.S. and Asia, the prized letter ultimately went to a European private collector.
The letter, written in German, dates back to April 1783. In it, Mozart addressed Jean-Georges Sieber (1738-1822), a German-born French music publisher. The correspondence reveals Mozart’s proposal to sell several of his works for publication, including three piano concertos and six string quartets.
Experts believe these six-string quartets may be the first mention of Mozart’s famous Haydn String Quartets. Published in Vienna in 1785 as Opus 10, this collection includes what are now known as String Quartets No. 14-19 in modern numbering. The original letter was thought to have been lost for many years before being unexpectedly rediscovered in a family archive.
Although Mozart initially approached Sieber to publish these works, the collaboration never came to fruition. The pieces were ultimately published in September 1785 by Artaria, a prominent music publisher based in Vienna.