🔗 Share this article

Previously unknown organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach have been unveiled and played in the central European country for the initial occasion in over three centuries.

The nation's Culture Minister the cultural official labeled the unearthing of the two compositions a "significant occasion for the musical community".

They first caught the attention of Peter Wollny in the early nineties when he was cataloguing historical musical documents at the Brussels archive.

The organ pieces - the Chaconne composition in D minor and G minor Chaconne - were without dates and without attribution. The scholar spent the next 30 years working to verify the identity of the pieces.

Historic Performance

They were performed at the Thomas Church in the German city, where Bach is buried and where he worked as a music director for 27 years.

The compositions were executed by Dutch musician the musical performer, who said he was privileged to be able to perform them for the initial performance in over three centuries.

He said the compositions were "exceptionally well-crafted" and would be "an important addition for modern musicians, as they are also appropriate for reduced-scale organs".

Musical Importance

They are considered to have been composed during Bach's formative years, when he was serving as an music instructor in the municipality of the Thuringian town in central Germany.

Mr Wollny, who is now the director of the Bach research center in the city, said they displayed several characteristics unique to the artist.

"Stylistically, the works also include characteristics that can be found in Bach's works from this period, but not in those of any other composer," he said.

They are considered to have been recorded in 1705 by Bach's apprentice, the musical student.

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