# What is this classical music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906 "2009-12-20T01:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/1 "2009-12-20T01:05:22Z")
Three minutes into this Marcel Marceau [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzYdsRK-iHU). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/2 "2009-12-20T01:11:00Z")
Moving to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/3 "2009-12-20T01:14:52Z")
Air on the G String ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/4 "2009-12-20T01:23:40Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Air on the G String by JS Bach. And not to be confused with Hair on the G String. šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/5 "2009-12-20T01:26:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Air on the G String Thank you. That allowed me to find a wonderful video on youtube of Sarah Chang playing it. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/6 "2009-12-21T14:57:18Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > by JS Bach. > > And not to be confused with Hair on the G String. šŸ˜› Aaaaargggggh! GarƧon! One brain bleach, straight up, no ice! Make it a double. Tout suite! ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/7 "2009-12-21T17:50:17Z")
Itā€™s the Air (second movement) from Johann Sebastian Bachā€™s **Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major** , BWV 1068, sometimes erroneously known as ā€œAir on the G-stringā€ because of a popular arrangement for violin and piano which came to be called that. The excerpt on the recording is (more or less) the original Air. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/8 "2009-12-21T17:56:53Z")
Ah, ā€œmusic to drop people into shark tanks byā€ā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/9 "2009-12-21T20:08:03Z")
For me, it will always be associated with the [Hamlet commercials](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIckHmwZAeI&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/10 "2009-12-21T23:02:25Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Itā€™s the Air (second movement) from Johann Sebastian Bachā€™s **Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major** , BWV 1068, sometimes erroneously known as ā€œAir on the G-stringā€ because of a popular arrangement for violin and piano which came to be called that. The excerpt on the recording is (more or less) the original Air. Face it. This may be accurate, but itā€™s too late. ā€œOrchestral Suite No. 3 in D majorā€ just doesnā€™t trip off the tongue like ā€œAir on the G Stringā€. Bach should have come up with a better name than all those boring descriptors. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/11 "2009-12-21T23:29:06Z")
To be fair, ā€œAir on the G-stringā€ sounds more like stripper music, so you can understand why classical music fans stick to the longer name. Well, that and the original piece had to be transposed and then shifted an octave to be able to play it all on the g-string, so itā€™s really the arrangement by August Wilhelmj which gets the catchy name, and the original is stuck with ā€œThe second movement from Bachā€™s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D majorā€. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/12 "2009-12-22T00:15:55Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > To be fair, ā€œAir on the G-stringā€ sounds more like stripper music, so you can understand why classical music fans stick to the longer name. Well, that and the original piece had to be transposed and then shifted an octave to be able to play it all on the g-string, so itā€™s really the arrangement by August Wilhelmj which gets the catchy name, and the original is stuck with ā€œThe second movement from Bachā€™s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D majorā€. > > Enjoy, > Steven Could be worse, could be [Murder on a G string](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036094/) .. šŸ˜ƒ yes I know that it is shown as lady of burlesque, but the original novel is the g string murders, written by Gypsy Rose Lee. A copy can be found online at the internet archives ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/13 "2009-12-22T00:22:16Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Three minutes into this Marcel Marceau [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzYdsRK-iHU). The Bach is amazing but all of the people talking about what a true artist this Mime is are cracking me up. That they diss Jim Carrey is funny, I bet Jim Carrey could pantomime this precisely. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/14 "2009-12-22T00:55:55Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Bach should have come up with a better name than all those boring descriptors. Iā€™d be willing to bet Bach thought of it as ā€œthe thing Iā€™m writing for next Sunday.ā€ Only, you know, _auf Deutsch_. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/15 "2009-12-22T01:28:06Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > The Bach is amazing but all of the people talking about what a true artist this Mime is are cracking me up. > > That they diss Jim Carrey is funny, I bet Jim Carrey could pantomime this precisely. riiiiight. Marcel Marceau was the acknowledged master of miming. His ability to pantomime an activity was unparalled; Jim Carrey wouldnā€™t know where to begin. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/16 "2009-12-22T04:45:27Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > riiiiight. > > Marcel Marceau was the acknowledged master of miming. His ability to pantomime an activity was unparalled; Jim Carrey wouldnā€™t know where to begin. I would be willing to bet that Jim Carrey could do that video too. All it requires is the ability to make big exaggerated emotional faces. Which he can do, and make big exaggerated dance steps, which he can do. The only thing that recommends that talent is Marceauā€™s timing and his ability to manipulate his face. The make-up exaggerates it. Itā€™s much harder to act subtley than it is to act flamboyantly. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/17 "2009-12-22T05:46:32Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > The excerpt on the recording is (more or less) the original Air. Right . . . but on modern instruments, and with vibrato. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/18 "2009-12-22T06:53:47Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Right . . . but on modern instruments, and with vibrato. Exactly. And without much in the way of continuo (no keyboard of any kind). Should at least have a harpsichord. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/19 "2009-12-22T07:00:15Z")
Also that performance in the OPā€™s link is far too bland and smooth, totally under inflected. Sad, really. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-classical-music/521906/20 "2009-12-22T12:27:15Z")
Iā€™m with Lord Vetinari on this one > [@](#): > > Vetinari banned all mime performances from Ankh-Morpork shortly after taking power. Mimes who violate the ban usually find themselves trying to climb invisible ladders out of Vetinariā€™s scorpion pit whilst reading a sign saying ā€˜learn the wordsā€™. invisible box my arse!