The work was found among unsigned keyboard scores acquired a few months ago by the archives of the Archbishop's office in Salzburg.

Some reports state that experts have decided that the score was definitely written by the young Mozart, although the Austria Press Agency quoted Mozart researcher Christoph Grosspietsch as saying, "We can't yet prove conclusively that the Allegro is a Mozart composition ... but the connection to Mozart is clear," adding that more study will be needed before the piece is assigned a Kochel number and officially catalogued as a Mozart work.

It was a very good year for Mozart lovers. In addition to thousands of performances worldwide, a new online database featuring all of the composer's works that was launched last month by the International Mozart Foundation had more than 20 million page views, according to the AP.

"The interest exceeded even our boldest expectations," said Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the IMF, which added two extra Web servers to handle demand after it launched the 24,000-page Internet catalog.

Born in 1756, Mozart died in 1791 at age 35 and was buried in a communal grave in Vienna.