Professor Says He’s Found Mozart Operas

An Iowa music history professor has found portions of two little-known Viennese operas he says were written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The New York Times reported in Thursday’s editions.

The discovery was made by David J. Buch, a professor of music history at the University of Northern Iowa last year in the archives of the City and University Library in Hamburg, Germany.

Mozart’s contributions were to “The Philosopher’s Stone” and “The Beneficent Dervish.”

“The Beneficent Dervish” had been attributed to Emanuel Schikaneder, who commissioned “The Magic Flute.”

Buch unearthed the Mozart link to the operas while researching a book about supernatural and fairy-tale operas from the 18th century. He is publishing his findings in the Cambridge Opera Journal in November.