🔗 Share this article

Recently identified organ works by the renowned composer Bach have been unveiled and played in the European nation for the initial occasion in 320 years.

The nation's Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer called the unearthing of the two pieces a "great moment for the global music scene".

They originally drew interest of a Bach researcher in the early nineties when he was cataloguing the composer's papers at the Belgian royal collection.

The musical compositions - the Chaconne composition in D minor and Chaconne in G minor - were undated and unsigned. Mr Wollny spent the next 30 years working to verify the origin of the pieces.

Historic Performance

They were performed at the historic Leipzig church in Leipzig, where the composer is interred and where he served as a cantor for twenty-seven years.

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

He said the compositions were "of a very high quality" and would be "a great asset for organists today, as they are also well-suited for smaller organs".

Cultural Relevance

They are believed to have been composed early in Bach's career, when he was serving as an organ teacher in the community of the German town in the German region.

Mr Wollny, who is now the head of the musical archive in the municipality, said they displayed several features particular to the artist.

"Stylistically, the compositions also feature aspects that can be observed in Bach's works from this period, but not in those of any other composer," he said.

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

At a unveiling of the pieces, the expert said he was "almost completely confident that the composer had created the two pieces" and they have now been incorporated into the official catalogue of his musical output.