Peace and harmony in this piece … It is like air that holds you to float over place and time slowly. Any lover of Bach’s music has heard this piece many times, It is one of the beautiful pieces from Baroque period. It’s Bach: Air on G string masterpiece.
Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the greatest composers of all time – his “Mass in B Minor” and “St Matthew Passion” cementing his place among the pantheon of classical music masterpieces.
Bach: Air on G string
Bach: Air is not actually a separate work, but a part of a larger work. It is the 2nd movement “Air” of Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068, was composed by the late Baroque composer Johann Christian Bach for his patron Prince Leopold of Anhalt sometime between the years 1717 and 1723 in In the 18th century.
The work now known as the Air on a G String is an arrangement for the violin and piano made in the 19th Century by the German violinist August Wilhelmj (1845-1908) who giving it the name it has endured popularly ever since.
The arrangement differs from the original in that the part of the first violins is transposed down so that it can be played entirely on a violin’s lowest string, i.e., the G string.
Bach: Air on G string sheet music free download
Fun facts about Bach: Air on G string
A spurious story was put about that the melody was always intended to be played on the G string alone. As a result of the popularity of the piece, on the G string remained in the name of various arrangements whether or not a string instrument playing on its G string was involved.
Bach: Air was also reportedly the first work by Bach ever recorded, and by a cellist – Aleksandr Verzhbilovich – in 1902.
In the UK, the arrangement for jazz trio by Jacques Loussier was used as background music for the long-running TV commercials for Hamlet cigars.
Also watch: This 90-year old couple play Bach together will stun you!
There is no wrong way to listen to Bach’s music. This playlist has many arrangements of Bach’s Air from classic, Jazz to Bosanova.