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Newly discovered musical pieces by the renowned composer Bach have been unveiled and executed in the central European country for the first time in over three centuries.

The nation's Culture Minister the cultural official described the discovery of the pair of works a "important event for the global music scene".

They initially attracted notice of a musical scholar in 1992 when he was documenting Bach manuscripts at the Royal Library of Belgium.

The musical compositions - the D minor Chaconne and Chaconne in G minor - were undated and unsigned. The researcher spent the next 30 years working to authenticate the identity of the pieces.

Landmark Presentation

They were presented at the St Thomas Church in the eastern German municipality, where Bach is interred and where he was employed as a cantor for 27 years.

The compositions were executed by Dutch organist Ton Koopman, who said he was honored to be able to play them for the premiere in three hundred twenty years.

He said the pieces were "exceptionally well-crafted" and would be "a great asset for modern musicians, as they are also suitable for smaller organs".

Cultural Relevance

They are believed to have been composed early in Bach's career, when he was serving as an music instructor in the town of Arnstadt in central Germany.

The researcher, who is now the director of the Bach Archive in the city, said they displayed several qualities distinctive to the composer.

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

They are thought to have been written down in the early eighteenth century by Bach's apprentice, the musical student.

At a unveiling of the pieces, the researcher said he was "almost completely confident that the composer had composed the two compositions" and they have now been incorporated into the official catalogue of his musical output.