Berlin, June 8 (Reuters): A previously unknown aria by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach has been discovered in the eastern town of Weimar, a researcher said today.

The handwritten music represents one of the few surviving pieces from Bach’s early period, said Peter Wollny, research director at the Bach Archive Foundation in Leipzig. “Everything new we find from this period opens up the possibility of new perspectives on Bach,” said Wollny.

The music appears at the end of a book previously thought to have contained only poetry by a local Weimar poet. It was given as a birthday present to the Duke of Weimar in 1713. Bach’s aria was written as an accompaniment to some of the poetry. A researcher found the manuscript in Weimar's Anna Amalia Library.