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Recently identified organ works by the musical genius Bach have been revealed and played in Germany for the first time in over three centuries.

The country's Culture Minister the cultural official called the finding of the pair of works a "great moment for the world of music".

They initially attracted notice of Peter Wollny in 1992 when he was organizing the composer's papers at the Brussels archive.

The organ works - the Chaconne composition in D minor and Chaconne in G minor - were undated and without attribution. The researcher spent the next 30 years working to confirm the authorship of the pieces.

Landmark Presentation

They were played at the historic Leipzig church in Leipzig, where the composer is interred and where he was employed as a church musician for twenty-seven years.

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

He said the pieces were "of a very high quality" and would be "a valuable resource for organists today, as they are also appropriate for smaller organs".

Historical Significance

They are believed to have been composed early in Bach's career, when he was employed as an organ teacher in the municipality of Arnstadt in Thuringia.

The scholar, who is now the head of the musical archive in Leipzig, said they demonstrated several characteristics unique to the artist.

"Musically, the works also feature elements that can be observed in Bach's compositions from that era, but not in those of any other composer," he said.

They are considered to have been transcribed in the early eighteenth century by a student of Bach, the historical figure.

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