- published: 27 Feb 2009
- views: 8213952
Air on the G String is August Wilhelmj's arrangement of the second movement in Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068.
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, it is played by a single violin (instead of by the first violins as a group), and that the rest of the music is reduced to an accompaniment that obfuscates most of the detail of the original.
Bach's third Orchestral Suite in D major, composed in the first half of the 18th century, has an "Air" as second movement, following its French overture opening movement. The suite is composed for three trumpets, timpani, two oboes, strings (two violin parts and a viola part), and basso continuo. In the second movement of the suite however only the strings and the continuo play. This is the only movement of the suite where all other instruments are silent.
That was the day
They put that string into your head
It made such terrifying noises
That you wished that you were dead.
You've been thrown
To be the stone
That kills the people who once left you all alone.