Air from Suite No 3 in D BWV 1068 (Bach) - Cantate Domino

Bach’s third Orchestral Suite in D major, composed in the first half of the 18th century, has an “Air” as second movement, following its French overture opening movement. The suite is composed for three trumpets, timpani, two oboes, strings (two violin parts and a viola part), and basso continuo. In the second movement of the suite however only the strings and the continuo play. This is the only movement of the suite where all other instruments are silent.

The music of the “Air” is written on four staves, for first violins, second violins, violas, and continuo. The interweaving melody lines of the high strings contrasts with the pronounced rhythmic drive in the bass.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It  uses material from the Wikipedia article "Metasyntactic variable."