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Recently identified organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach have been revealed and played in Germany for the premiere performance in three hundred twenty years.

Germany's Culture Minister the cultural official called the finding of the two pieces a "significant occasion for the musical community".

They first caught the attention of a Bach researcher in 1992 when he was cataloguing historical musical documents at the Royal Library of Belgium.

The organ works - the D minor Chaconne and G minor composition - were without dates and without attribution. The scholar spent the subsequent thirty years working to verify the origin of the pieces.

Historic Performance

They were played at the historic Leipzig church in the German city, where Bach is laid to rest and where he worked as a church musician for 27 years.

The pair of works were executed by Dutch musician Ton Koopman, who said he was proud to be able to present them for the premiere in 320 years.

He said the compositions were "exceptionally well-crafted" and would be "a great asset for contemporary organ players, as they are also appropriate for reduced-scale organs".

Musical Importance

They are considered to have been created during Bach's formative years, when he was working as an organ instructor in the municipality of Arnstadt in central Germany.

Mr Wollny, who is now the director of the Bach research center in Leipzig, said they displayed several qualities particular to the artist.

"Musically, the compositions also contain characteristics that can be observed in the composer's creations from that time, but not in those of other musicians," he said.

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

At a unveiling of the works, the expert said he was "virtually certain that the composer had composed the pair of works" and they have now been incorporated into the recognized inventory of his works.