The "Concerto per Violone", which dates from the late 1770s or early 1780s, had been attributed to Austrian composer Johannes Sperger - but scholars noted about half a century ago that the score was not in his handwriting.
Germany-based musicologist Darija Andzakovic was searching for folk tune references in Sperger's concertos when the "Concerto per Violone" returned a result, along with music by one of Sperger's contemporaries, Ignaz Joseph Pleyel.
If you haven't heard of these composers, just know they were big at the time - Pleyel wrote 40 symphonies and 70 string quartets, as well as operas and chamber music.
For a period he was the most famous composer in the world: Wolfgang Mozart, for example, wrote to his father in 1784 that Pleyel would make a good replacement for Joseph Haydn.
"So he had five stars from Mozart, which I think we should really take into account," says Andzakovic.
She compared "Concerto per Violone" with Pleyel's characteristic handwriting on his signed manuscripts, and got a perfect match - the concerto that had been misattributed for centuries was in fact by Pleyel.
Andzakovic says it was an amazing moment and, in the small field of 18th century musicology, an important one.
"For us, this is like finding a boson," she said.
It's believed the piece may have been performed in Pressburg, now the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, when it was first composed, but it has not been played by an orchestra since.
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra will premiere the concerto as part of its 2026 slate in October next year.
It was written for a five-stringed Viennese double bass soloist as well as a typical orchestra at that time, with strings, horns and oboes.
"It's an absolutely gorgeous piece, and for us it's a very, very important discovery, because Pleyel really is the absolute pinnacle of classical composers for us," explained the orchestra's principal bass player Robert Nairn.
The score does have some editorial markings in Sperger's hand which shows they collaborated on the piece, with Pleyel composing and Sperger editing and performing.
Andzakovic initially presented her research in Stockholm in 2024, and it will be published in the University of Uppsala's musicological journal.
The doctoral student has been surprised that a discovery in her highly specialised area of research has received international attention.
"I'm just really grateful that it has drawn so much interest, and been received in such an amazing way by the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra," she said.
11°C