Two new organ works by Bach definitely confirmed
The Bach Works Catalogue (BWV) has been enriched by two new numbers: two previously unknown organ works have been clearly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach.
The two compositions now identified as early works by Bach, the Ciacona in D minor BWV 1178 and the Ciacona in G minor BWV 1179, have been known to Leipzig Bach researcher and director of the Bach Archive Leipzig Peter Wollny for over 30 years. He found them in the Royal Library of Belgium. Over the course of his research career, the musicologist has collected numerous clues which, together with the final piece of the puzzle - the identification of the scribe by name - now form a complete picture.
The identification was made as part of the work on the "BACH Research Portal", an academy project of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig, in which all available archival sources on the entire Bach family of musicians are being digitally indexed and made publicly accessible for the first time.
The anonymous surviving pieces Ciacona in d and Ciacona in g can be found in Bibliothèque royale de Belgique de Bruxelles / Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België (Royal Library of Belgium), Bruxelles/Brussels, shelfmark: Ms II 3911 Mus (Fétis 2013). The sheet music edition can be purchased from Breitkopf & Härtel.
