This is an arrangement for piano of Bach's Air, famously known as "Air on a G string". Suitable for grade 3 and over.

The "Air on the G String" is a musical piece for string and piano, arranged by August Wilhelmj from the Air of Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068.

History
The original orchestral suite was written by Bach for his patron Prince Leopold of Anhalt sometime between the years 1717 and 1723.

The title comes from violinist Wilhelmj's late 19th century arrangement of the piece for violin and piano. By transposing the key of the piece from its original D major to C major and transposing the melody down an octave, Wilhelmj was able to play the piece on only one string of his violin, the G string.

It was sampled for the soundtrack of the film Yellow Submarine. Conducted by George Martin, it was released as "Sea of Monsters". In the movie Se7en, Morgan Freeman is doing research in a library late at night and comments towards the nightwatchmen that they should take in some of the culture of the place, instead of playing poker all night. As an answer, one of the night guards turns on the radio to this musical piece, which becomes the score for the scene where Morgan Freeman finds lots of plot tells (whilst the guards still play poker...)

Procol Harum borrowed a few bars from this piece for their hit single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

The 2009 Taiwanese drama, Autumn's Concerto (Next Stop, Happiness), samples this song on multiple occasions.

Audio sample

The above text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ( creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ). It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Air on the G String" ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_on_the_G_String ).

The four Orchestral Suites or Ouvertures BWV 1066–1069 are a set of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, probably composed between 1725 and 1739 in Leipzig. The word ouverture refers to an opening movement in which a section of slow dotted-note rhythm is followed by a fugue; at the time, this name was also used to refer to a whole suite of dance-pieces in the French baroque style.

Ouverture No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066

1. Ouverture
2. Courante
3. Gavotte I/II
4. Forlane
5. Minuet I/II
6. Bourrée I/II
7. Passepied I/II

Instrumentation: Oboe I/II, bassoon, violin I/II, viola, basso continuo

Ouverture No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067

1. Ouverture
2. Rondeau
3. Sarabande
4. Bourrée I/II
5. Polonaise (Lentement) - Double
6. Minuet
7. Badinerie

Instrumentation: Solo flute, violin I/II, viola, basso continuo

The badinerie has become a show-piece for solo flautists, due to its quick pace and difficulty.

Ouverture No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068

1. Ouverture
2. Air
3. Gavotte I/II
4. Bourrée
5. Gigue

Instrumentation: Trumpet I/II/III, timpani, oboe I/II, violin I/II, viola, basso continuo

The Air is one of the most famous pieces of baroque music. An arrangement of the piece by German violinist August Wilhelmj (1845–1908) has come to be known as Air on the G String.

Ouverture No. 4 in D major, BWV 1069

1. Ouverture
2. Bourrée I/II
3. Gavotte
4. Menuet I/II
5. Réjouissance

Instrumentation: Trumpet I/II/III, timpani, oboe I/II/III, bassoon, violin I/II, viola, basso continuo

The opening movement of this suite was reused by Bach at the choral opening to his cantata Unser Mund sei voll Lachens (BWV 110). The voices come in at the opening of the fugal gigue, so that their singing of Lachen (laughter) sounds like "ha ha ha", a technique Bach used a few times in his vocal works.

The above text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ( creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ). It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Orchestral suites (Bach)" ( en.wikipedia.org/ ... ki/Orchestral_suites_(Bach) ).