Missing Bach Works Played for First-Ever Performance in 320 Years
Previously unknown organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach have been revealed and executed in Germany for the first time in over three centuries.
Germany's Minister of Culture the cultural official described the finding of the two pieces a "important event for the musical community".
They originally drew interest of Peter Wollny in the early nineties when he was organizing Bach manuscripts at the Brussels archive.
The organ works - the D minor Chaconne and G minor Chaconne - were dating unknown and unsigned. The scholar spent the following three decades working to authenticate the authorship of the pieces.
Historic Performance
They were performed at the historic Leipzig church in Leipzig, where Bach is buried and where he served as a cantor for 27 years.
The pair of works were performed by Dutch organist the renowned organist, who said he was honored to be able to present them for the first time in three hundred twenty years.
He said the works were "of a very high quality" and would be "a great asset for organists today, as they are also suitable for reduced-scale organs".
Musical Importance
They are considered to have been created at the beginning of Bach's professional life, when he was serving as an music instructor in the town of Arnstadt in central Germany.
The scholar, who is now the head of the musical archive in the municipality, said they demonstrated several qualities unique to the artist.
"Musically, the pieces also contain aspects that can be observed in Bach's works from that time, but not in those of other musicians," he said.
They are thought to have been transcribed in the early eighteenth century by Bach's apprentice, the historical figure.
At a unveiling of the pieces, the expert said he was "almost completely confident that Bach had composed the pair of works" and they have now been included into the recognized inventory of his musical output.
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