🔗 Share this article

Recently identified organ compositions by the musical genius Bach have been revealed and performed in the European nation for the initial occasion in three hundred twenty years.

Germany's Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer called the discovery of the two compositions a "important event for the world of music".

They originally drew interest of a Bach researcher in 1992 when he was cataloguing the composer's papers at the Belgian royal collection.

The organ works - the D minor Chaconne and G minor Chaconne - were dating unknown and without attribution. Mr Wollny spent the following three decades working to verify the identity of the pieces.

Historic Performance

They were presented at the Thomas Church in the German city, where the composer is laid to rest and where he worked as a music director for twenty-seven years.

The two pieces were performed by Dutch musician the renowned organist, who said he was honored to be able to perform them for the initial performance in over three centuries.

He said the compositions were "remarkably sophisticated" and would be "a valuable resource for modern musicians, as they are also appropriate for more compact instruments".

Musical Importance

They are thought to have been composed at the beginning of Bach's professional life, when he was working as an music instructor in the town of Arnstadt in central Germany.

The scholar, who is now the leader of the musical archive in the municipality, said they demonstrated several qualities distinctive to the composer.

"Musically, the compositions also include elements that can be found in the composer's creations from this period, but not in those of any other composer," he said.

They are thought to have been recorded in 1705 by a student of Bach, the musical student.

At a revealing of the pieces, Mr Wollny said he was "99.99% sure that Bach had created the two compositions" and they have now been added into the recognized inventory of his compositions.