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Previously unknown organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach have been unveiled and performed in the European nation for the premiere performance in 320 years.

The country's Minister of Culture the government representative described the finding of the pair of works a "significant occasion for the world of music".

They originally drew interest of a Bach researcher in the early nineties when he was organizing historical musical documents at the Royal Library of Belgium.

The musical compositions - the Chaconne in D minor and Chaconne in G minor - were without dates and without attribution. The researcher spent the next 30 years working to confirm the identity of the pieces.

Historic Performance

They were played at the historic Leipzig church in Leipzig, where the composer is interred and where he worked as a church musician for over two decades.

The two pieces were played by organist from the Netherlands Ton Koopman, who said he was proud to be able to play them for the first time in over three centuries.

He said the works were "of a very high quality" and would be "a valuable resource for contemporary organ players, as they are also appropriate for reduced-scale organs".

Historical Significance

They are thought to have been created early in Bach's career, when he was serving as an music instructor in the town of the German town in Thuringia.

The researcher, who is now the leader of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, said they demonstrated several qualities particular to the artist.

"Stylistically, the pieces also include characteristics that can be identified in Bach's compositions from that era, but not in those of different artists," he said.

They are thought to have been recorded in 1705 by one of Bach's pupils, the musical student.

At a presentation of the compositions, the expert said he was "almost completely confident that the composer had created the two pieces" and they have now been added into the official catalogue of his compositions.