Just weeks after the discovery of a previously unknown string trio by Mozart in Leipzig comes the news that a short waltz by Frédéric Chopin has been unearthed in New York’s Morgan Library & Museum.

The New York Times broke the news, reporting that the manuscript – a scrap “about the size of an index card” had been found in an uncatalogued collection gifted to the Morgan by A. Sherrill Whiton Jr., a director of the New York School of Interior Design.

Frédéric Chopin

Whiton, who died in 1972, was a passionate classical music fan with a particular love for Chopin. His collection also included postcards signed by Pablo Picasso and letters from Brahms and Tchaikovsky.

After forensic testing of the ink and paper and analysis by graphologists armed with confirmed examples of Chopin’s handwritten notation, it was concluded that the piece was in Chopin’s own hand and put to paper sometime between 1830 to 1835.

“We have total confidence in our conclusion,” curator and composer Robinson McClellan told The New York Times. “Now it’s time to put it out there for the world to take a look and form its own...