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Recently identified organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach have been revealed and performed in the central European country for the initial occasion in over three centuries.

The country's Culture Minister the government representative described the finding of the two pieces a "important event for the global music scene".

They first caught the attention of a Bach researcher in 1992 when he was cataloguing the composer's papers at the Royal Library of Belgium.

The musical compositions - the Chaconne in D minor and Chaconne in G minor - were undated and without attribution. The researcher spent the subsequent thirty years working to verify the authorship of the pieces.

Memorable Concert

They were performed at the St Thomas Church in the eastern German municipality, where Bach is buried and where he worked as a cantor for 27 years.

The pair of works were performed by Dutch musician Ton Koopman, who said he was proud to be able to present them for the first time in over three centuries.

He said the compositions were "of a very high quality" and would be "a valuable resource for modern musicians, as they are also well-suited for smaller organs".

Cultural Relevance

They are considered to have been written during Bach's formative years, when he was serving as an organ teacher in the town of Arnstadt in Thuringia.

Mr Wollny, who is now the head of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, said they displayed several features distinctive to the artist.

"In terms of style, the compositions also feature aspects that can be found 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 the early eighteenth century by Bach's apprentice, Salomon Günther John.

At a unveiling of the works, Mr Wollny said he was "almost completely confident that Bach had created the two compositions" and they have now been included into the recognized inventory of his works.