Lost work performed for first time in 320 years

A previously unknown organ work by Johann Sebastian Bach is performed in Germany for the first time in 320 years.

German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer called the discovery of the two pieces “a great moment for the world of music.”

They first came to the attention of German composer and musician Peter Wollny when he was cataloging Bach manuscripts at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels in 1992.

Organ works – Chaconne in D minor BWV 1178 and Chaconne in G minor BWV 1179 – undated and unsigned. Mr. Volney spent the next 30 years working to identify the fragments.

They were performed in Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church, where Bach is buried and where he served as cantor for 27 years.

The two pieces were performed by Dutch organist Ton Koopman, who said he was proud to perform them for the first time in 320 years.

He said the pieces were of “very high quality” and were “a great asset to today’s organists as they are also suitable for smaller organs”.

The works are believed to have been composed early in Bach’s career while he was working as an organ teacher in the Thuringian town of Arnstadt.

Mr. Volney, now director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, said the works displayed several characteristics unique to the composer.

“Stylistically, these works also contain features that can be found in Bach’s works from this period, but not in the works of any other composer,” he said.

They are believed to have been written in 1705 by Salomon Günther John, one of Bach’s students.

Speaking at a presentation of the works, Mr Volney said he was “99.99% certain that these two pieces were written by Bach” and they have now been added to his official catalog of works.