Air on the G String

{{listen

| type = music

| header = "Air" from Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3

| filename = PDP-CH - Adolf Busch Chamber Players - Adolf Busch - Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 - Air - Bach - Hmv-db3019-2ea3895.flac

| title = Air

| description = performed by The Adolf Busch Chamber Players (1937)

}}

{{further|Orchestral Suite No. 3 (Bach)}}

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.

The music of the "Air" is written on four staves, for first and second violins, viola(s), and continuo. The interweaving melody lines of the high strings contrast with the pronounced rhythmic drive in the bass.

{{listen

| type = music

| header = "Air on the G String"

| filename = Air (Bach).ogg

| title = Violin and piano (1920)

| description = performed by Joel Belov (violin) and Robert Gayler (piano)

| description2 =

}}

In 1871, violinist August Wilhelmj arranged the second movement of Bach's third Orchestral Suite for violin and an accompaniment of strings, piano or organ (harmonium).{{sfn|French|2014|loc=II, p. 71}} On the score he wrote {{Lang|de|auf der G-Saite}} (on the G string) above the staff for the solo violin, which gave the arrangement its nickname.

In Wilhelmj's version the piece is transposed down from its original key (D major) to C major. Then the part of the first violins is transposed further down an octave and given to a solo violin that can play the entire melody on its lowest string, the G string. The dynamic markings added by Wilhelmj are more in line with a Romantic interpretation than with the Baroque original.

As the violin is unable to play with much volume in its lowest register, all the other parts of Bach's music were firmly reduced in Wilhelmj's version: the keyboard part is to be played staccato and pianissimo, causing the effects of interweaving melodies and of drive in the bass part to get lost. The accompanying violins and violas play muted (con sordino), and the bass part for cellos and double basses is to be played pizzicato and {{lang|it|sempre pianissimo}}, with the same change in effect compared to Bach's original.{{Cite web|title=About "Air on the G String by J. S. Bach & arranged by Wilhelmj|url=https://galaxymusicnotes.com/pages/about-air-on-the-g-string|access-date=2022-02-02|website=Galaxy Music Notes}}

Later, a spurious story circulated that the melody was always intended to be played on the G string alone.Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edition, 1954, Vol. IX, p. 298, "Wilhelmj, August" The solo violin part of Wilhelmj's arrangement is sometimes played on the counter-tenor violoncello.

Wilhelmj's arrangement greatly popularized the piece and although his version is rarely played anymore, his original title on the G string or Air on the G string has been retained as the commonly used name of various arrangements whether or not a string instrument playing on its G string is involved. Most of these versions have in common that the original melody of the first violins is played in the low register of a solo instrument, accompanied by a reduction of the material of the other parts of Bach's piece, although occasionally versions that stay more in line with Bach's original can go by the same name.

This arranged piece was itself arranged countless times, in key or instrumentation, for orchestra, saxophone, accordion, synthetizer, recoder ensemble ... parallelling and overlapping other arrangements of the same original{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}.

In a period that stretched over three decades, and started in 1905, Henry Wood regularly programmed Wilhelmj's arrangement at the London Proms.{{sfn|French|2014|loc=I, pp. 49, 162}}[https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e8b4wh Prom 61 - Last Night of the Proms 1907] at BBC website.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/epn9mb Prom 19: 20:00 Sat 4 Sep 1909 Queen's Hall] at BBC website. Wood recorded his orchestral rendering (i.e., the G string part performed by a group of violins) of the Bach/Wilhelmj "Air" in the early 1930s.[http://music.damians78s.co.uk/artists/conductors/t-z/w/henry-j-wood/ Henry J Wood] at music.damians78s.co.uk website.[https://sounds.bl.uk/Classical-music/Bach/026M-1CL0047154XX-0100V0 1CL0047154] at British Library Sounds website (contains audio file).

Recordings of Wilhelmj's "Air on the G String" arrangement, from the era preceding the Second World War, include:

Soldat-Roeger's recorded performance of the "Air on the G String" was the subject of scholarly analysis.{{sfn|Milsom|2015a|p=12}}{{sfn|Cho|2017|pp=32, 36}}

{{expand section|date=October 2020}}

In the early 20th century, Joseph Joachim called Wilhelmj's arrangement "a shameless falsification of a work by Bach".{{sfn|Milsom|2015a|p=7}} In {{ill|Casper Höweler|nl|Casper Höweler|fr}}'s XYZ der Muziek (1936, here quoted from the 1939 edition):

{{Verse translation|lang=nl|Het Air, alleen voor strijkers en continuo, met zijn volmaakte cantilenen in alle stemmen, van sfeer een onovertroffen ‘Der Welt abhanden gekommen’, heeft de ontstellendste majesteitschennis ondergaan, die de muziek meemaakte: de violist Wilhelmj maakte er een zwoel effect-stukje van, door het als ‘Aria op de g snaar’ te zetten, waarbij zoowel de evenwichtige polyphonie als de teere stemming vandalistisch vernield werden.|The "Air", exclusively for strings and continuo, with its perfect singing in all voices, breathing an unsurpassed "lost to the world", has suffered the most appalling regicide in music: the violinist Wilhelmj converted it to sultry claptrap by setting it as "Aria on the G String", thus vandalising and annihilating both its equilibrated polyphony and delicate atmosphere.|attr1={{lang|nl|X-Y-Z der muziek}} (1939){{sfn|Höweler|1939|pp=47–48}}|attr2=translation}}

British musicologist Donald Francis Tovey likewise criticized Wihelmj's arrangement, stating that "At my concerts [the Air] will be heard as Bach wrote it, in its original D major as an angelic soprano strain, not in C major as a display of contralto depths."{{Cite journal|last=Wen|first=Eric|date=2001|title=Stripped of the G String: Bach's Air from the Suite No. 3 in D|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41054328|journal=Theory and Practice|volume=26|pages=87–98|jstor=41054328 |issn=0741-6156}}

• The 1967 song "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum used a bar or two of "Air on the G String" as its starting point according to its writer Gary Brooker.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_q4rAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |title=The People's Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in 50 Records |first= Stuart |last=Maconie |page=82 |publisher= Ebury Press|date= 2014|isbn=978-0091933807 }}
• The Dutch group Ekseption recorded a jazz-fusion version titled "Air" which reached No. 1 on the Dutch chart in 1969.{{cite web |url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Ekseption&titel=Air&cat=s |title= Ekseption - Air |work=Dutch Charts }}
• The German group Sweetbox recorded a rap song "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" backed with music from "Air on the G String" in 1997, which became a world-wide hit.{{cite magazine |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FQoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80|title=Sweetbox Aims for Top 40 Sweet Spot with the Bach-backed Hit 'Everything' |magazine=Billboard |date=10 October 1998|page=80|first=Chuck |last=Taylor }}
• Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton used "Air on the G String" as the guitar solo for the song “Hearts of Iron,” the tenth track on their 2014 album Heroes.
• The South Korean girl group Red Velvet uses its sample for their song "Feel My Rhythm" taken from their 2022 EP The ReVe Festival 2022 – Feel My Rhythm.{{Cite web |last=Chin |first=Carmen |date=March 10, 2022 |title=Red Velvet to sample Bach's 'Air On The G String' on new single 'Feel My Rhythm' |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/red-velvet-sample-bach-air-on-the-g-string-new-single-feel-my-rhythm-3179592 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310160345/https://www.nme.com/news/music/red-velvet-sample-bach-air-on-the-g-string-new-single-feel-my-rhythm-3179592 |archive-date=March 10, 2022 |access-date=June 17, 2022 |website=NME}}

From 1966 to 1991, a jazz rendition of the piece appeared on British TV in the ad campaign Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet.

In the 1977 James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, the piece is used as villain Karl Stromberg feeds his assistant to a shark.

In the 1995 film Se7en, the piece is used as Detective Mills and Somerset look through crime photographs.{{Cite web |last=Story |first=James |date=2013-05-05 |title=10 Iconic Classical Songs You Only Know Because Of The Movies |url=https://whatculture.com/film/10-iconic-classical-songs-you-only-know-because-of-the-movies |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=WhatCulture.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Meyer |first=Joshua |date=2021-10-31 |title=The Daily Stream: Seven Is When David Fincher Truly Arrived, And Its Influence Endures |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/647913/the-daily-stream-seven-is-when-david-fincher-truly-arrived-and-its-influence-endures/ |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=SlashFilm |language=en-US}}

The piece is used in the 1997 Japanese anime apocalyptic science fiction film The End of Evangelion, towards the end of the movie's first half."Production Note". The End of Evangelion Theatrical Pamphlet (in Japanese). Gainax. 1997.

The piece is heard in the 3rd Baby Einstein video, Baby Bach

The 2000 Japanese action film Battle Royale features the piece in its soundtrack.{{Cite web |title=Bach Movie - Batoru rowaiaru (Battle Royale) |url=https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Movie/F0269.htm |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=www.bach-cantatas.com}}

In the 7th episode of the 2008 TV anime adaptation of Golgo 13, "Sharp Shoot on the G String", Duke Togo is contacted by a prestigious violinist of the London Symphony Orchestra, who was humiliated while playing the piece due to his violin's G string snapping. Duke is hired to shoot the G string on his rival's violin in order to humiliate him as he plays same piece at a concert in front of a large audience.

The 2022 anime adaption of the manga "Record of Ragnarok", which depicts famous mythological and historical human figures fighting against the gods of various cultures and religions, used a rendition of this song, referred to as "massacre in the g battlefield" as the entrance theme for Zeus, one of the fighters.

The 2024 horror/sci-fi film It's What's Inside features a rendition of the piece during the second act, called "It's Way More Fun Not Knowing In D Major."

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}

• {{cite thesis |last=Cho |first=Jung Yoon |date=2017 |title=Re-interpreting Brahms Violin Sonatas: Understanding the Composer's Expectations |type=PhD |publisher=University of Leeds |url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17924/1/Cho_JY_Music_PhD_2017.pdf}}
• {{cite thesis |last=French |first=Hannah Chloe |date=2014 |title=The Role of Sir Henry J. Wood in the English Bach Awakening: Orchestral Bach at the Proms 1895-1944 |type=PhD |publisher=University of Leeds |url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/7515/1/Hannah%20French%20PhD%20Vols%20I%20and%20II%20combined.pdf }}
• {{cite book

|last1 = Höweler

|first1 = Casper

|author-link1 = :fr:Casper Höweler

|display-authors = etal

|date = 1939

|chapter = Bach, Johann Sebastian

|trans-chapter =

|chapter-url = https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/howe003xyzd01_01/howe003xyzd01_01_0037.php

|title = X-Y-Z der muziek

|trans-title = X-Y-Z of Music

|url = https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/howe003xyzd01_01/index.php

|language = nl

|edition = 3rd

|location = Utrecht

|publisher = W. de Haan

|pages = 5–48}}

• {{cite web

|url=https://www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk/NEWGERM2.HTM

|title=The Gramophone Company – Standard German Catalogue (A–B–C)

|last=Kelly

|first=Allen

|author-link=

|date=2009

|orig-year=1994

|editor-last=Capon

|editor-first=Brian

|website=operadis-opera-discography.org.uk}}

• {{cite report

| last1 = Milsom

| first1 = David

| date = 2015a

| orig-year = 2007

| title = String Chamber Music of the Classical German School, 1840-1900: A Scholarly Investigation through Reconstructive Performance

| publisher = Arts & Humanities Research Council (ahrc.ukri.org)

| section = Marie Soldat-Roeger (1863-1955): Her Significance to the Study of Nineteenth-Century Performing Practices

| section-url = http://davidmilsom.com/PDFs/Marie_Soldat-Roeger_Significance.pdf

}}

• {{cite report

| last1 = Milsom

| first1 = David

| date = 2015b

| orig-year = 2009

| title = String Chamber Music of the Classical German School, 1840-1900: A Scholarly Investigation through Reconstructive Performance

| publisher = Arts & Humanities Research Council (ahrc.ukri.org)

| section = Discography

| section-url = http://www.davidmilsom.com/PDFs/Discography.pdf

}}

{{refend}}

{{commons category}}

• [https://www.riphil.org/blog/the-story-behind-bach-s-orchestra-suite-no-3 The Story Behind Bach's Orchestra Suite No. 3]
• {{IMSLP|work=Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major, BWV 1068 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)#For Violin, Piano and Strings (Wilhelmj)|cname="Air on the G String" (Wilhelmj arrangement)}}
• {{Cantorion|pieces/293/Orchestral_Suite_(Overture)_No._3|"Air on the G String"}}
• [https://musescore.com/sheetmusic?text=air%20on%20g%20string "Air on the G String" sheet music] on MuseScore.com
• {{YouTube|8ljII_bRQQk|Video}}, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber

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Category:Arrangements of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach