Bach/Wilhelmj Air on the G string

Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Arranged by: August Wilhelmj

Date of Publication: 1730 and 1871

Nicknames: "Air on the G string", "Air for G string", "Celebrated Air"

Although Bach is widely credited for the composition of Air on the G string, it may come as a surprise that Bach never actually "wrote" this piece. Instead, the origins of this piece can be traced back to a German violinist and Attorney-General of Prussia, August Wilhelmj-- the "German Paganini". The piece gets its name from Wilhelmj's arragement of Bach's second movement, "Air", of his 3rd orchestral suite in D major, BWV 1068. In Wilhelmj's arrangement for violin and piano soloists, he transposed the key down to C major, allowing for the entire first violin part to be played on the violin's G string (after being transposed down an octave as well), hence the name "Air on the G string". However, Wilhelmj was faced with a dilemma-- In order to keep the same "air" quality, the violinist cannot put too much arm weight into the G string in order to project further, since that would also serve to create a very heavy, intense tone. As a result, Wilhelmj resorted to lowering the dynamics of all the other instruments, and utilizing more staccatos. In the end, Wilhelmj's piece comprised of an orchestra of muted violins and violas, cellos and basses playing pizzicato, and a solo violin and piano. On one hand, that's all Wilhelmj did-- a simple transposition. On the other hand, due to the piece's popularity, Wilhelmj started a trend of arranging scores to suit just a violin's G string and labeling said pieces "...on the G string".

Fun Fact: Bach's Air (aria) was originally just 18 measures before Wilhelmj arranged it.