🔗 Share this article

Previously unknown musical pieces by the musical genius Bach have been revealed and executed in the European nation for the premiere performance in 320 years.

Germany's Cultural Affairs Minister the cultural official described the unearthing of the pair of works a "great moment for the global music scene".

They initially attracted notice of a musical scholar in 1992 when he was cataloguing Bach manuscripts at the Royal Library of Belgium.

The organ works - the Chaconne in D minor and G minor Chaconne - were without dates and unsigned. Mr Wollny spent the following three decades working to confirm the origin of the pieces.

Landmark Presentation

They were presented at the St Thomas Church in the German city, where Bach is laid to rest and where he was employed as a music director for 27 years.

The two pieces were performed by Dutch organist Ton Koopman, who said he was proud to be able to play them for the first time in three hundred twenty years.

He said the works were "exceptionally well-crafted" and would be "a valuable resource for modern musicians, as they are also appropriate for reduced-scale organs".

Historical Significance

They are thought to have been written early in Bach's career, when he was employed as an organ instructor in the town of Arnstadt in central Germany.

The scholar, who is now the head of the Bach research center in Leipzig, said they displayed several qualities particular to the composer.

"Musically, the works also include characteristics that can be observed in Bach's compositions from this period, but not in those of other musicians," he said.

They are considered to have been written down in 1705 by Bach's apprentice, Salomon Günther John.

At a revealing of the pieces, Mr Wollny said he was "99.99% sure that the composer had written the pair of works" and they have now been incorporated into the official catalogue of his works.