Overview
- The newly listed pieces are the Chaconne in D minor (BWV 1178) and the Chaconne in G minor (BWV 1179).
- The manuscripts were found in 1992 at the Royal Library of Belgium and were authenticated after identifying the copyist as Salomon Günther John.
- Researchers linked John to Bach’s circle by matching his script to an earlier court document from 1705 that indicated copying under Bach’s supervision.
- Bach Archive director Peter Wollny cites about 20 strands of evidence and says he is 99.99% certain of Bach’s authorship.
- Premiered by Dutch organist Ton Koopman at Leipzig’s St Thomas Church, the works are dated to Bach’s youth and exhibit complex variation writing including a fugue.