Air on the G String

The "Air on the G String" is an adaptation by August Wilhelmj of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Air". The air is usually played slowly and freely, and features an intertwining harmony and melody.

History

The original piece is part of Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068, written for his patron Prince Leopold 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, Wilhelmj was able to play the piece on only one string of his violin, the G string.

Popular culture

The popular name Air on the G String has today more or less taken the meaning of any arrangement of Bach's Air. These include:

This piece is said to be the main inspiration of Procol Harum's most famous song, "A Whiter Shade of Pale".
Anime music composer Shiro Sagisu (known for composing the original background music for Neon Genesis Evangelion) arranged a version of Air for the movie The End of Evangelion, the first half of which is titled "Air / Love is Destructive".
Anime In the GAINAX series His and Her Circumstances, during a class scene on school, the beginning of this song can be barely heard on the background.
Anime It is featured in an episode of Tekkaman Blade, a scene where Blade reminisces about his old teacher Goddard and while Saber listens to it training. Blade says that he and Saber loved the song.
A brief excerpt of Bach's version appears in the Beatles animated movie "Yellow Submarine" where the submarine lost in the Sea of Monsters lights an exploding cigar it gave to a boxing monster. It is also popular in Italy, in its version performed by The Swingle Singers, as the opening song of historical Rai Uno science TV show Quark since 1981.
Guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen frequently performs versions of Air on his albums and live shows. His interpretations include "Air on a Theme", "Air on a G String" (on his live album) and "Air" on his album Attack!!. The music of "Prisoner of Your Love" is also an adaptation of Air.
Julian Lloyd Webber performs this piece on the cello.
In the Space Flight simulator: Orbiter, this is the default music on the cockpit MP3
The piece is mentioned in episode during the second season of the West Wing when Sam Seaborn comments that he likes it, and Ainsley Hayes retorts that he liked it only for the name.
The melody was also well known in the UK as the theme music for the long-running series of Hamlet cigar TV commercials.
It is also in the Japanese movie Battle Royale and is used after the character Mitsuko Souma is killed by Kazuo Kiriyama.
The song is featured in the soundtrack of the video game Gran Turismo 4.
The piece appears in the movie Se7en as Detective Somerset is searching through the library for books containing information on the seven deadly sins.
The James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me features it in a scene in which the villain feeds his assistant to his pet shark.
A jazz version of the piece, by the Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion, is featured on the soundtrack for the Michael Mann movie Collateral.
A remix of this piece was recorded by DJ Zigo and used in TV Series Nip/Tuck in the first episode of the second season during a Rhytidectomy operation.
John Cale quotes the piece in "Chinese Takeaway (Hong Kong 1997)" on 1985's Artificial Intelligence.
The song Everything's Gonna Be Alright by Sweetbox sampled based on Bach's Air (on a G String) from Suite No. 3.
In Halloween (2007), it is played in the cafeteria of Smith's Grove Sanitarium.
Australian musical comedy group Tripod released a vocal version of this with added lyrics.
The song appears in DigitalPh33r's Deus Ex Machina, as the character Plague's theme.
A remix of this piece by BanYa, called Point Break (포인트 브레이크), is included in some versions of dance simulation game Pump it Up.
The visual novel G-Senjou no Maoh gets its name from this piece, which is a personal favorite of the protagonist.