🔗 Share this article Long-Forgotten Bach Works Performed for First-Ever Performance in 320 Years The composer is believed to have written the pair of organ works early in his career Previously unknown organ works by the musical genius Bach have been unveiled and performed in the European nation for the initial occasion in three hundred twenty years. The country's Cultural Affairs Minister the cultural official described the unearthing of the pair of works a "important event for the musical community". They initially attracted notice of Peter Wollny in 1992 when he was cataloguing the composer's papers at the Belgian royal collection. The musical compositions - the Chaconne in D minor and Chaconne in G minor - were without dates and without attribution. The scholar spent the subsequent thirty years working to authenticate the identity of the pieces. Historic Performance They were performed at the historic Leipzig church in the German city, where Bach is interred and where he was employed as a music director for over two decades. The two pieces were played by organist from the Netherlands the musical performer, who said he was privileged to be able to perform them for the first time in 320 years. He said the works were "exceptionally well-crafted" and would be "an important addition for organists today, as they are also appropriate for reduced-scale organs". Musical Importance They are considered to have been written at the beginning of Bach's professional life, when he was employed as an organ teacher in the municipality of the Thuringian town in central Germany. Mr Wollny, who is now the director of the musical archive in the municipality, said they demonstrated several characteristics unique to the artist. "Musically, the pieces also include aspects that can be found in the composer's creations from this period, but not in those of other musicians," he said. They are thought to have been written down in the early eighteenth century by Bach's apprentice, Salomon Günther John. At a unveiling of the works, the expert said he was "almost completely confident that Bach had composed the pair of works" and they have now been incorporated into the recognized inventory of his compositions. Connected Subjects: European Culture German Heritage Classical compositions Musical Arts