LEIPZIG, Germany, June 8 (UPI) -- Classical music scholars are celebrating the discovery in a shoebox of a previously unknown aria composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1713.
Experts confirmed the work written for a soprano and harpsichord was genuine after comparing the hand-penned manuscript with Bach's writing, The Guardian reported.
By chance, the shoebox had been removed from the library in Weimar where it had been stored for nearly three centuries before the library burned down.
Two weeks ago, Michael Maul, a member of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, stumbled on the composition, along with numerous other poems and letters.
"The last time anything by Bach was discovered was 80 years ago," Maul said. "So far we've only heard it on the computer. But it's a charming little work, written for one singer -- a soprano -- and a harpsichord."
There are plans for British conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner to record the aria before Christmas and perform it at London's Cadogan Hall Dec. 18.
