Posted on 06/08/2005 7:01:27 AM PDT by Red Badger
BERLIN (AP) - Experts have discovered a previously unknown work by Johann Sebastian Bach in a German library, a research foundation devoted to the composer said Wednesday. Historians found the aria in May in the Anna Amalia Library in the eastern city of Weimar, the Bach Archiv foundation said on its Web site.
There was no doubt about the authenticity of the handwritten, two-page score, dated October 1713, Leipzig-based the foundation said. It was the first unknown vocal work by Bach to surface since the discovery of the single-movement cantata fragment "Bekennen will ich seinen Namen" (BWV 200) in 1935, the foundation said.
"The find is a well-rounded composition - not a major work, but a casual piece of superior quality," the foundation said.
Bach composed the work for a soprano, to be accompanied by strings or a harpsichord, to mark the 52nd birthday of the duke of Saxony-Weimar, for whom he worked as a court organist, the foundation said.
A solo soprano was to sing a 12-verse poem beginning with the duke's motto "Everything with God and nothing without him" written by Johann Anton Mylius, it said.
The work was Bach's only known aria and the precise date made it valuable to researchers studying the German composer's style, the foundation said.
It was not clear if it was played at the time, but the foundation said English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner is preparing to record it.
Gardiner last month received a medal in recognition of his performance of Bach music from the Saxony city of Leipzig, where Bach was cantor of St. Thomas Church for 27 years.
Germany's Baerenreiter publishing house plans to publish the composition in the fall.
The library where the manuscript was found in a 16th-century rococo palace that reopened in February, five months after a suffering extensive damage in a fire.
--- On the Net:
http://www.bach-leipzig.de
Baby Got Bach.
How do they know it wasn't from P.D.Q. Bach? The worst composer in known musical history :)
AAHHH, Bach!
-Radar O'Reilly
Bach?
It's like bringing back extinct species. We may be able to recover lost works.
I certainly would love to hear the St. Mark's and St. Luke's Passions.
Maybe we'll be able to replay the audio-recording from Bach's spectacles or the church windows or something and actually hear his performances.
I know. I know. It's like reading the Akashic Records. We can already read them to some extent. It's just a matter of increasing the extent.
Since Bach was required to write a new major piece of music each WEEK this probably represents a few minutes of work.
"Concerto For Horn and Hardart" was one of his best compositions.
"I'm partial to the fugue."
Demonstrating Bach's
amazing foresight, the score
includes specs for which
sound card it should be
played through to best capture its
range and dynamics!
May the fugue be with you...
Bach ping!
That's HIGHLY significant.
I consider that horse-and-buggy thinking.
Don't make fun of zee composer. He might hit you Bach.
Would Bach cry if he stubbed his toe?
Nope, he would Wachet Auf
I'm sure he could Handel it.........
I can't believe that something this old wasn't baroque!
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