Missing Bach Works Performed for First-Ever Performance in Over Three Centuries

Recently identified organ works by the renowned composer Bach have been presented and performed in the European nation for the premiere performance in over three centuries.

Germany's Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer called the unearthing of the pair of works a "significant occasion for the global music scene".

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

The musical compositions - the D minor Chaconne and G minor composition - were without dates and without attribution. The scholar spent the subsequent thirty years working to verify the authorship of the pieces.

Landmark Presentation

They were performed at the Thomas Church in the German city, where Bach is interred and where he worked as a church musician for twenty-seven years.

The two pieces were performed by Dutch musician the musical performer, who said he was privileged to be able to play them for the first time in over three centuries.

He said the compositions were "remarkably sophisticated" and would be "an important addition for modern musicians, as they are also suitable for reduced-scale organs".

Cultural Relevance

They are considered to have been created early in Bach's career, when he was working as an organ instructor in the municipality of the German town in the German region.

Mr Wollny, who is now the head of the Bach research center in the city, said they exhibited several features particular to the composer.

"Musically, the pieces also contain elements that can be observed in Bach's works from this period, but not in those of other musicians," he said.

They are considered to have been transcribed in the early eighteenth century by a student of Bach, the musical student.

At a unveiling of the pieces, Mr Wollny said he was "99.99% sure that Bach had composed the two pieces" and they have now been included into the official catalogue of his musical output.