Overview
- Peter Wollny of the Bach-Archiv Leipzig presented two chaconnes as early Bach works with 99.9% confidence after more than three decades of research.
- The compositions are the Ciacona in D minor (BWV 1178) and the Ciacona in G minor (BWV 1179), performed in their modern premiere by organist Ton Koopman.
- Attribution rests on identifying Bach pupil Salomon Günther John as the copyist around 1705, plus stylistic fingerprints and watermark evidence.
- The non-autograph manuscripts were first encountered in the Royal Library of Belgium in the early 1990s, with the Forschungsportal Bach aiding recent verification.
- Breitkopf & Härtel published an edition on Monday, and a further Thomaskirche performance is scheduled for Saturday.