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Newly discovered organ works by the musical genius Bach have been presented and played in Germany for the first time in three hundred twenty years.

The country's Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer labeled the finding of the two pieces a "important event for the world of music".

They initially attracted notice of a musical scholar in 1992 when he was organizing historical musical documents at the Royal Library of Belgium.

The organ pieces - the Chaconne in D minor and G minor Chaconne - were dating unknown and without attribution. The researcher spent the subsequent thirty years working to authenticate the authorship of the pieces.

Historic Performance

They were performed at the St Thomas Church in Leipzig, where the composer is laid to rest and where he served as a cantor for over two decades.

The compositions were executed by Dutch musician the musical performer, who said he was proud to be able to perform them for the first time in three hundred twenty years.

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

Cultural Relevance

They are believed to have been composed during Bach's formative years, when he was working as an organ instructor in the town of Arnstadt in the German region.

The researcher, who is now the leader of the musical archive in the city, said they demonstrated several qualities unique to the musical genius.

"In terms of style, the works also include aspects that can be identified in the composer's creations from that era, but not in those of any other composer," he said.

They are thought to have been written down in the early eighteenth century by one of Bach's pupils, Salomon Günther John.

At a revealing of the compositions, the researcher said he was "virtually certain that the composer had composed the two compositions" and they have now been included into the recognized inventory of his musical output.