🔗 Share this article

Newly discovered organ works by the renowned composer Bach have been unveiled and played in the central European country for the first time in 320 years.

The country's Cultural Affairs Minister Wolfram Weimer called the unearthing of the pair of works a "important event for the global music scene".

They initially attracted notice of a Bach researcher in 1992 when he was documenting the composer's papers at the Belgian royal collection.

The musical compositions - the Chaconne in D minor and G minor Chaconne - were dating unknown and unsigned. The researcher spent the following three decades working to verify the origin of the pieces.

Memorable Concert

They were played at the historic Leipzig church in the German city, where Bach is buried and where he served as a music director for twenty-seven years.

The pair of works were performed by organist from the Netherlands the renowned organist, who said he was privileged to be able to play them for the premiere in over three centuries.

He said the compositions were "of a very high quality" and would be "a great asset for modern musicians, as they are also suitable for smaller organs".

Musical Importance

They are believed to have been written early in Bach's career, when he was working as an organ instructor in the municipality of the Thuringian town in Thuringia.

The scholar, who is now the director of the musical archive in the city, said they exhibited several qualities distinctive to the musical genius.

"Stylistically, the works also include aspects that can be identified in Bach's compositions from that era, but not in those of other musicians," he said.

They are considered to have been written down in 1705 by one of Bach's pupils, the musical student.

At a presentation of the compositions, Mr Wollny said he was "almost completely confident that Bach had composed the two pieces" and they have now been included into the authoritative listing of his works.