Two previously unreleased works by Bach, 'lost' for 300 years, are premiered

BarcelonaExcitement in the music world. This Monday, two previously unknown organ pieces were heard for the first time. After three decades of research, they have been attributed "with 99.99% certainty" to Johann Sebastian Bach, according to Peter Wollny, music director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig. These are two early works by the master, composed 320 years ago and discovered in 1992. The pieces were performed in St. Thomas Church in the German city, where the composer was buried in 1750. The German Minister of Culture, Wolfram Weimer, called the premiere "a momentous occasion." Wollny found both pieces while working on his doctorate and reviewing Bach manuscripts and scores at the Royal Library in Brussels. He came across 17th-century pieces from Thuringia, in eastern Germany, and theorized that at least a couple of those anonymous, undated scores could be transcriptions of compositions by the composer ofThe Brandenburg Concerts and The Passion According to Saint MatthewThese are two chaconnes, a musical form Bach frequently practiced, composed between 1702 and 1704 during his time in Arnstadt, his first professional posting as a professor (1703-1707). For three decades, Wollny has dedicated himself to searching for evidence to confirm their authorship. The pieces contain elements typically found in Bach's works and in no other composer of the period. The definitive proof was the identification, "with absolute certainty," that the transcriber was Salomon Günther John, a student of Bach. The works have been added to the index of Bach's works cataloged as Chaconne in D minor BWV 1178 and Chaconne in G minor BWV 1179. The organ concerto, performed by organist Ton Koopman, also served to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the concert.