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Air On The G String
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compositions by johann sebastian bach
   
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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 August 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:
  • 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".

  • Sweetbox sampled part of the piece into '' Everything's Gonna Be Alright ''.

  • 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 on his album ''Attack!!''. "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 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 watches someone get eaten by sharks.

  • 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 popular TV Series Nip/Tuck in the first episode of the second season during a Rhytidectomy operation.

  • John Cale quotes it the piece in "Chinese Takeaway (Hong Kong 1997)" on 1985's '' Artificial Intelligence ''.

  • Procol Harum 's best known song, " A Whiter Shade Of Pale ," was set to music loosely based on Bach's "Air on the G String" by the song's singer, Gary Brooker. from the Rhapsody.com notes on P.H.




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