The Associated Press
Updated: 12:37 p.m. ET June 8, 2005


BERLIN - Experts have discovered a previously unknown work by Johann Sebastian Bach in documents taken from a German library shortly before it was heavily damaged by fire, researchers said Wednesday.

It was believed to be the first new Bach work to surface in 30 years.

Researcher Michael Maul found the aria, dated October 1713, in May 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, the Leipzig-based foundation said.

Maul said it was the first Bach work to come to light since 1975, when a copy of the “Goldberg Variations” in a private collection was found to contain extra canons for piano in the composer’s own handwriting. The last previously unknown vocal work by Bach to surface was in 1935, when the single-movement cantata fragment “Bekennen will ich seinen Namen” was discovered, the foundation said.

“The find is a well-rounded composition — not a major work, but a casual piece of superior quality,” the foundation said of the aria.

The foundation’s director, Christoph Wolff, said the work, written when Bach was 28, was among documents taken from the Duchess Anna Amalia library for restoration before September’s fire.

“Otherwise the work would have been consumed by the flames and we would never have known of its existence,” Wolff said.

The library, housed in a 16th-century rococo palace, reopened in February.

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 strophic aria, in which several stanzas are set to the same music, and the precise date made it valuable to researchers studying the development of 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.

It amazes me how things are so easily discarded by society. That after only three short hundred years, there would be so little record of the compositions of such a well-known artist. I wonder what of ours will be remembered and what forgotten in 2305.

Imagine the elation at the Spears Foundation upon discovery of a before unknown early Britney work, titled "Oops, I Did it Again."

I'm old. I'm ancient. I don't understand things like I should. I always have to dig further; go on tangents. I just can't leave something alone.

Like your comment about the Spears Society finding a previously unknown Britny work. God forbid! Just what the world needs. Another suggestive 'bump and grind' classic from a former Mouseketeer who morphed from Uncle Walt's little darling to a silicone-filled bottle blonde with a trick pelvis. Then again, it could have been the Madonna Society.

Say it isn't so!! This fossil reminds me of the strippers at Philadelphia's old burlesque theater, the Troc. As a boy, I couldn't wait to get the Sunday newspaper so I could see who was appearing at the Troc for the next week. I had heard that the average age of the gals was 66, and gravity had gotten to most of them, but their names were a riot: Luna Walker - she'll launch you; Polly Esther - there's nothing synthetic on this girl, etc. Madonna, it's over, it's time for the home, hang up your cast iron brassiere, take out your teeth and relax. Or do another Oprah interview. I know that you found it exhausting answering "yeah", "nah" and "wha?" to that barrage of questions fired at you. Maybe write another children's book; you can call it, "What's A Virgin?", "Mommie I Need An Ointment", "Father's Day - Understanding Multiple Choice".

I prefer artists like Mozart, Handel, Schubert. Wolfgang din't have to grab his crotch for emphasis during the "Requiem". George Frideric didn't have his legs in the air during "Hallelujah", and Franz didn't rub his thighs against the flautist to show his approval. (Although I did hear that he breathed a bit heavy when the cellist hit a certain note.)