Nearly a decade after David Bowie’s passing, new documents have revealed that the musician was quietly developing a stage musical set in 18th-century London during the final months of his life. The notes, found locked away in his New York office, shed light on an entirely unknown project that not even his closest collaborators knew existed.

According to the BBC, the work-in-progress was tentatively titled The Spectator. The discovery has been donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, which took custody of Bowie’s vast personal archive in 2023. These pages provide an intimate glimpse into a creative endeavor that Bowie never shared publicly and which remained hidden until now.

The notes suggest Bowie had begun outlining a story blending real historical figures with fictionalized elements. One of the main characters he considered was Jack Sheppard, the notorious thief and escape artist whose exploits captured the public imagination in the early 18th century. Bowie also sketched ideas for Jonathan Wild, the infamous underworld figure who betrayed Sheppard and ultimately ensured his execution.

Beyond these central figures, Bowie seemed interested in weaving in smaller tales that highlighted the moral contradictions of the era. In one notebook, he referenced a parable about a beautiful yet arrogant woman abandoned by her suitor, who instead chose her modest sister. Such morality tales were common in period literature, and Bowie appeared keen to adapt them as part of his broader narrative.

One of the most striking elements in Bowie’s preparatory work is his fascination with The Spectator, the influential daily publication founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in 1711. Bowie maintained an entire notebook dedicated to the paper, assigning scores to different stories and considering which ones might serve as inspiration for musical subplots.

The documents also indicate his interest in pivotal historical events and notorious groups. The Gordon Riots of 1780, a violent anti-Catholic uprising that engulfed London in chaos, appear in his notes as possible material. Bowie also referenced the Mohocks, a gang of wealthy young men notorious for drunken street violence. For one dramatic sequence, he even envisioned staging a public hanging, complete with surgeons fighting over corpses, an image consistent with the era’s brutal fascination with crime and punishment.

Academics say the material aligns with Bowie’s lifelong interest in contrasts and dualities. Professor Bob Harris, an Oxford historian specializing in the 18th century, told the BBC that Bowie likely found the period’s stark juxtapositions compelling. “London threw up so many different juxtapositions. Juxtapositions between high and low, between the virtuous and the criminal, and these things existed cheek by jowl,” Harris explained. “I think it presented so much that was beguiling to contemporaries, but also clearly that Bowie himself found fascinating.”

The notes suggest that the musical would have explored these contradictions - how art and satire flourished alongside poverty and crime, and how spectacle and morality intertwined in public life.

That Bowie was still pursuing ambitious new ideas in his final months is consistent with the restless creativity he displayed throughout his career. His final album, Blackstar, released just two days before his death in January 2016, was already viewed as a carefully orchestrated farewell. The revelation that he had begun sketching another project underscores how deeply he remained immersed in the act of creation until the very end.