# Real Air on the G String?



## carlmichaels (May 2, 2012)

Hello,

This is my first post to the forum. I'm trying to track down a recording. Bear with me..

The second movement of JS Bach's 3rd Orchestral Suite BWV 1068 is "Air." In the late nineteenth century August Wilhelmj transposed the movement from D to C (and down an octave) so that he could play the movement on the G string alone. From my understanding the G string is furthest from the bow hand. Yet every clip I see on YouTube claiming to be performing "Air on the G String," the artist is most definitely not playing on the violin's G string. I suspect the artists are actually playing Bach's original Air.

Roy Hemming in _Discovering Great Music_, writes "The simple, tenderly beautiful 'Air,' popularly called 'Air for the G-string' from this suite remains one of Bach's most widely loved compositions."

If this seemingly knowledgeable author is unaware of the difference, how can I ever be confident I'm getting a recording of Wilhelmj's transposition? ..something I'd like to have. (At this point you'll deduce that I don't have any musical training and wouldn't be able to hear the difference between D and C.)

Thanks for any help with this.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Most performances are not the arrangement that you speak of. And I actually did not know that that was why the piece was dubbed "Air on the G string." Learn something new every day.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

carlmichaels said:


> Hello,
> 
> This is my first post to the forum. I'm trying to track down a recording. Bear with me..
> 
> ...


Only a tiny bit helpful, and not at all - the original air, I recall reading (not Wikipedia  is not Bach's (so much of Bach's was not 'his' material - a genius 'borrower / stealer' was J.S.), and it was not in G.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

PetrB said:


> a genius 'borrower / stealer' was J.S.)


Aren't all great artists?


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## carlmichaels (May 2, 2012)

The more I look for the transposition, the more obvious it is to me that I will never get it. Here's an example of why:

ClassicalArchives showing all the recordings they have of the suite that "includes Air on the G String". The irony, of course, is none of them do.


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## AmateurComposer (Sep 13, 2009)

carlmichaels said:


> Hello,
> 
> This is my first post to the forum. I'm trying to track down a recording. Bear with me..
> 
> ...


Yes! You are right - the G string is the farthest away string from the hand holding the bow. I guess that this is the reason why violinists mark the strings from E to G respectively by roman numerals I to IV

The Air for G string *can* be played exclusively on the G string, but it *does not have to* be played that way. Some performers, violinists included, choose not to follow composers instructions. Therefore I am not surprised to read in your post that you noticed violinists who play the air on strings of their choice.

In my humble opinion, performers should follow composer's instructions. The composer might have had a very good reason for giving those instructions.

Worse, some performers even choose to play a piece not as written; in other words, they take the liberty to improvise the piece according to their own muse. I saw this done in a number of performances on You-Tube of the Czardas by Vittorio Monti. My preference is for a good performance as written - I do not see the need to add additional 'emotion' into the piece.


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Here you go, the arrangement in question, played in C, by a legit orchestra:

Air on the G String by Bach arr Wilhelmj


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