VOL. 11 · Track 3 · 3 / 15
The Story of My Piece's Nickname
Bach never called it the "Air on the G String." The name came from a violinist's arrangement about 140 years later.
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The composer of this pieceJohann Sebastian Bach1685–1750 · born in Eisenach, Germany
At last, my turn. The piece at this third stop is the second movement of my Orchestral Suite No. 3, the Air. You probably know it as the "Air on the G String." I have a confession: I never gave it that name.
I wrote this suite around 1730, scholars think. I was living in Leipzig then. From 1723 I was Thomaskantor, the man in charge of music at St Thomas's Church and its school. A new cantata every Sunday kept me busy, but I also led concerts with university students in a coffee house in town.
The other movements of this suite ring with trumpets and timpani. The Air is different. The trumpets and drums fall silent, and only the strings remain, singing quietly. It is like a still room you stumble into in the middle of a festival.
Some 140 years later, in 1871, the German violinist August Wilhelmj rearranged the piece for violin and piano. He changed the key and moved the melody down an octave so it could be played entirely on the violin's lowest string, the G string. His arrangement became hugely popular, the nickname stuck, and today it is better known than the original title.
Hearing my music called by a name I never knew felt a little strange at first. But it carried the piece to far more people, and for that I'm grateful.
Listen for this
- The first notethe melody begins by holding one long tone, while below it the bass walks along in even steps.
- The bass linefollow only the lowest part. Its steady, step-by-step walk holds the whole piece up.
- The second halflonger than the first, it wanders farther before coming home to the calm of the opening.
A question to think about
This piece became famous through Wilhelmj's arrangement, yet along the way its key, its pitch and even its instruments changed. Today, too, it is common to rearrange old songs or build new works on someone else's.
Between changing an original so it reaches more people and keeping it exactly as it was, where should we draw the line?
The piece at this track
Bach · about 5 min
Recording on its way