The foolish and dead never change their opinions. - unknown
2005, July 24
Air on a G string
Air from Orchestral Suite 3 in D, BWV 1068.2
We are now working on this short piece of music, short only in the number of notes it comprises. Bach could not let even a short aria go by without creating a masterpiece of counterpoint. Essentially, though it is often played as a solo piece, it is really a duet for two violins.
Learning, as my teacher puts it, the "choreography" of the bow makes this a very full sized piece. Here I am faced with a concept that takes as much assimilation as the idea of "no dead notes" in the Two Part Keyboard Inventions, the holding of non-moving notes in the mind while playing the moving part of the counterpoint.
Of course, the ideas, to the mind seem simple enough. However the doing of the thing is much more difficult.
Bass, viola and violin 2, with 4 eighth notes for tempo, music minus one
