Researchers in Weimar, Germany, have discovered the earliest known manuscripts of Johann Sebastian Bach. The manuscripts are copies of choral fantasies by Buxtehude (Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein) and Reinken (An Wasserflüssen Babylon), and were written down by Bach in 1700, when he was 15 years old. The two pieces are in tabulatur notation.

The found manuscripts stem form what is left from the large collection of the Anna-Amalia library in Weimar, which burnt down in 2004. The small part that is left happened to be sent away for restauration at the time of the fire.

[source: www.nrc.nl]