Long-Forgotten Johann Sebastian Bach Pieces Presented for First Time in Over Three Centuries

Recently identified musical pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach have been unveiled and performed in the central European country for the first time in three hundred twenty years.

The nation's Cultural Affairs Minister Wolfram Weimer described the discovery of the two pieces a "important event for the global music scene".

They initially attracted notice of Peter Wollny in the early nineties when he was organizing historical musical documents at the Brussels archive.

The organ pieces - the D minor Chaconne and Chaconne in G minor - were without dates and unsigned. The scholar spent the following three decades working to verify the authorship of the pieces.

Landmark Presentation

They were performed at the Thomas Church in the eastern German municipality, where the composer is interred and where he served as a church musician for over two decades.

The pair of works were performed by Dutch musician Ton Koopman, who said he was privileged to be able to present them for the first time in three hundred twenty years.

He said the pieces were "of a very high quality" and would be "an important addition for organists today, as they are also suitable for smaller organs".

Historical Significance

They are thought to have been created at the beginning of Bach's professional life, when he was employed as an music instructor in the community of the Thuringian town in Thuringia.

The scholar, who is now the director of the Bach research center in Leipzig, said they displayed several qualities unique to the artist.

"In terms of style, the compositions also include characteristics that can be found in Bach's works from that era, but not in those of any other composer," he said.

They are believed to have been recorded in the early eighteenth century by Bach's apprentice, Salomon Günther John.

At a unveiling of the compositions, the researcher said he was "99.99% sure that Bach had written the pair of works" and they have now been incorporated into the official catalogue of his compositions.