LEIPZIG BACH ARCHIVE PRESENTS NEWLY DISCOVERED ORGAN WORKS BY JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

(Leipzig, Germany) As of 17 November, the index of Bach’s works (BWV) is richer by two numbers: Leipzig Bach Archive director Peter Wollny has succeeded in identifying two previously anonymous organ works as composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. In a livestreamed official ceremony in the presence of the Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, and the Mayor of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung, the city of Leipzig together with the worldwide Bach community celebrates the first performance of these works in 320 years in St Thomas’ Church in Leipzig.

Leipzig-based Bach researcher and Bach Archive director Peter Wollny has been familiar with the two works that have just been identified as Bach’s, the Ciacona in D minor, BWV 1178, and the Ciacona in G minor, BWV 1179, for more than 30 years. He found them in the Royal Library of Belgium. During the course of his research career, the musicologist collected numerous clues which now, with the final piece of the puzzle – the naming of the scribe – form a complete picture. This identification took place in the context of work on the BACH Research Portal, a research project by the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig, in which for the first time all the available archive resources about the entire Bach family of musicians are being opened up and made publicly available in digital form.

Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Peter Wollny: »I spent a long time searching for the missing piece of the puzzle in the attribution of the works – now the whole picture is revealed. We can state for once and for all that the copies were made around 1705 by Bach pupil Salomon Günther John. Moreover, stylistically the works contain features that one finds in Bach’s works from of this period, but in those of no other composer. I want to thank my colleagues at the Royal Library of Belgium and the Leipzig Bach Archive for their decades of support for my research. And special thanks go to our Foundation’s sponsors: the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Free State of Saxony and the City of Leipzig, for their unfailing trust and financial support for our work.«

The Leipzig Bach Archive is the musical centre of excellence on Johann Sebastian Bach located in the composer’s principal place of work. The BACH Research Portal is a project of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig, which is headquartered at the Leipzig Bach Archive.

 

www.bacharchivleipzig.de | www.saw-leipzig.de

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Available from: 17 November 2025, 5pm approx.
Photo credits: Leipzig Bach Archive/Jens Schlüter