A piece of Vocal music, to be accompanied by harpsicord, & written by Bach, has been discovered after a museum fire.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4071142.stm
The piece is a musical accompaniment to a 12-verse poem composed for the Duke of Saxony in 1713.
Plans are being made for the first performance, under the English conductor Sir John Elliot Gardiner.
Bach, then the court organist in Weimar, penned the composition to go with a 12-stanza poem dedicated to the duke, but its existence was swiftly forgotten. The manuscript was apparently swept away into a box, together with numerous other poems and letters written to celebrate the duke’s 52nd birthday.
May we assume it isn’t “Happy Birthday To You”?
This find is cool, but what gets me is that only something like a third of Bach’s cantatas have survived (correct me if I’m wrong). Surely there were some irrecoverable gems among them.