Waldhornstück (lost), K. 33h
von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Waldhornstück (K. 33h) is a lost juvenile work, probably dating from 1766 in Salzburg, when he was ten years old [1]. It survives only as a documentary mention rather than as music that can be performed or closely analyzed [2].
Mozart's Life at the Time
In 1766, the ten-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was based in Salzburg between major legs of the family’s travels, still composing opportunistically for the people and occasions around him. A later reminiscence by Leopold Mozart—written on 16 February 1778 in a letter to his wife Anna Maria and to Wolfgang—recalls that, “many years earlier,” Wolfgang had made a small piece (Waldhornstückl) for Martin Grassl, a servant in the household of Prince Breuner (dean of Salzburg Cathedral) [2].
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Musical Character
No autograph or copy of K. 33h is known to survive, and the letter does not describe its key, length, or formal plan [2]. The title Waldhornstück (literally “hunting-horn piece”) suggests that it was conceived with horn sonority in mind—perhaps a short fanfare-like idea or a simple tune shaped by the natural horn’s harmonic series—yet this remains conjectural without the notes themselves [1]. In that sense, K. 33h is best understood as a glimpse of the young Mozart’s practical, socially embedded music-making in Salzburg: a small, likely functional piece written for a specific local musician rather than for publication or posterity [2].
[1] Musiikkikirjastot.fi (PDF book excerpt) — notes on K. 33h as a possibly Salzburg 1766 lost work; mentions Leopold’s reference to a “Waldhornstückl.”
[2] Digital Mozart Edition (dme.mozarteum.at) — Leopold Mozart letter, Mannheim, 16 Feb 1778 (English transcription), referencing that Wolfgang wrote a small hunting-horn piece (KV 33h, lost) for Martin Grassl.