Posted on 12/08/2025 10:58:15 AM PST by nickcarraway
Two musical pieces written by Johann Sebastian Bach were recently performed for the first time ever, more than 300 years after they were composed.
Both written for the organ, they are believed to date from the great composer’s very early career, when he worked as a organ tutor in Thuringia.
Germany’s Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer called the discovery of the two pieces a “great moment for the world of music.”
Both pieces were unsigned and undated when they were found in the 1990s by Mr. Peter Wollny, a Belgian Bach researcher working at the Royal Library in Brussels. Entitled Chaconne in D minor and Chaconne in G minor, Wollny wasn’t sure who had written them, but suspected they might have been Bach’s.
That hunch needed 30 years to be realized, as the archivist, now director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, wanted to absolutely sure of it.
“Stylistically, the works also contain features that can be found in Bach’s works from this period, but not in those of any other composer,” Wollny told the BBC, adding he was “99.99% sure that Bach had written the two pieces.”
Given the Bach catalogue identification tags BWV 1178 and BWV 1179, they were played for the first time in 320 years by Dutch organist Ton Koopman at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig where Bach worked for 27 years as a cantor. Koopman, as one might imagine, said he was proud to be the first person to play them, and described them as being of “of a very high quality” and ideal for both large church organs and small ones.
A Mount Rushmore composer without a shadow of a doubt, Bach is generally considered to have stood at the pinnacle of his art, with the senior classical critic at the New York Times calling him the greatest. By 1802, there were already biographies of Bach made, and manuscripts of his works being bought at huge expense. In 1850, the first of several Bach societies was organized in Leipzig.
Claude Debussy described Bach as “a benevolent God” to whom musicians should pray before setting to work. Not one, nor two, but three Bach pieces were included on the NASA Voyager’s Golden Record.
A recent concert in Austria saw a 200-year-old Mozart piece performed for the first time when it too was discovered by an archivist under similar circumstances.
“It then gives you a new Beatles tune.”
No. It’s an AI tune.
George Martin infused a lot of Bach
Whiter Shade of Pale as well
Eruption by The Eddie and accompaniment
There’s a problem with that presentation: the black keys are white and the white keys are black.
Ebony and Ivory.....
It sounds like ordinary church music.
also the musical scales and tuning systems Bach used were different.
He worked with unequal temperaments (like well-tempered tuning), allowing all keys but with some altered intervals, unlike today’s equal temperament, and his music used more flexible minor scales.
If we're honest, lots of rock n roll bands had just a handful of unique sounds, yet made many new songs by making new lyrics without much originality in the melody or styles. (Think one trick pony.)
Only a few rock bands IMHO played a variety of styles and I can listen to all day without getting bored in just a few songs.
No wonder he wrote such energetic music!
Like Cheese and Onions?
This was most definitely the most obvious Beatles knock-off
Lies - The Knickerbockers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4FsMlzPwT8
LOL
“Whiter Shade of Pale as well”
That song borrows so heavily from Air on a G String, that Procol Harum should have sent residuals to the Neue Bachgesellschaft.
I routinely watch the Rick Beato youtube videos. Beato likes to ask rock musicians to name who they regard as the world’s greatest composer. Bach wins. I first started to pay attention to this when I heard Sting name Bach. I’m pretty sure Jimmy Page did the same. There’s been others whose names I don’t recall offhand.
Bach and Lutheran hymns are one and the same so I knew his music for as long as I can remember. It’s always had a strong appeal to me. But I was surprised by some of the musicians who think the same.
<< I first started to pay attention to this when I heard Sting name Bach. I’m pretty sure Jimmy Page did the same. >>
And I first started to pay attention in the late ‘70s when I saw Jack Bruce briefly discuss Bach in the Cream Farewell Concert video.
24 second excerpt about Bach. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fGr4YwtR8O8
…from the 5 minute interview: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Fa7drqK3M
And the entire hour-long concert vid, if you’re interested: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFZqvZ3FtI
Blew away my 14 year old brain.
Still listen to Bach quite a bit. Mostly the organ works, cello suites, works for lute, Mass in B minor, and various interpretations of the Art of Fugue.
I wish somebody would find the St. Mark and St. Luke Passions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.