Air and Gavotte (Orchestral Suite no. 3 in D major, BWV 1068)

The performing parts for the Third Orchestral Suite were copied in Leipzig around 1731 by Bach together with his son Carl Philipp Emanuel and two pupils; no autograph score survives and the date of composition remains uncertain. The suite opens with a French overture for trumpets, timpani, oboes and strings, then withdraws to strings alone for a second movement marked only Air. August Wilhelmj arranged that movement in 1871 for violin and piano, transposing it so the melody lies entirely on the lowest string — the origin of the title Air on the G string and of the piece's separate life.