For researcher Martin Jarvis OAM, the childhood notebook Leopold Mozart used to teach his children, Maria Anna and Wolfgang, how to write and play music is the key to solving two ongoing mysteries: Did Maria Anna contribute to Mozart’s earliest work? And did she, too, compose music?
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TRANSCRIPT
With Mozart, what was intriguing was at five years old we were supposed to believe - or four or five years old - that, that he was capable of composing complex music.
Marianne was five years older and obviously exceptionally gifted.
But as a young female at this time, no value will have been placed on what she wrote.
The problem is that nobody wanted to look for Marianne.
They were not interested in finding her, so they didn't look for her.
Retired professor and orchestra founder Martin Jarvis is on a quest.
He believes that Maria Anna has been overlooked in the Mozart story and is hunting for evidence of her musical achievements.
And the first place to look is what's left of the childhood notebook.
The notebook contains the handwriting of Amadeus, it contains the handwriting of their father, Leopold, and then three people who they refer to as Anonymous One, Two and Three.
My examination of this book has been quite substantial, right?
And it seems to me that there's far more of Marianne Mozart in here than people give credit to.