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Newly discovered musical pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach have been presented and executed in the European nation for the first time in over three centuries.

The country's Minister of Culture the cultural official described the unearthing of the pair of works a "great moment for the musical community".

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

The musical compositions - the D minor Chaconne and G minor composition - were without dates and anonymous. The scholar spent the subsequent thirty years working to authenticate the authorship of the pieces.

Memorable Concert

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

The pair of works were played by Dutch organist the musical performer, who said he was honored to be able to play them for the initial performance in three hundred twenty years.

He said the pieces were "remarkably sophisticated" and would be "a valuable resource for modern musicians, as they are also suitable for smaller organs".

Historical Significance

They are believed to have been created during Bach's formative years, when he was working as an organ teacher in the town of the German town in Thuringia.

The scholar, who is now the director of the musical archive in the city, said they displayed several qualities distinctive to the composer.

"Musically, the works also contain elements that can be observed in Bach's compositions from that era, but not in those of any other composer," he said.

They are thought to have been transcribed in 1705 by Bach's apprentice, Salomon Günther John.

At a unveiling of the compositions, the expert said he was "virtually certain that the composer had created the two pieces" and they have now been added into the authoritative listing of his compositions.