Air a variant of the musical song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 form, is the name of various song-like vocal or instrumental compositions.

English lute ayres

Lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

 ayres emerged in the court of Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 toward the end of the 16th century and enjoyed considerable popularity until the 1620s. Probably based on Italian monody

Monody

In poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death....

 and French air de cour, they were solo songs, occasionally with more (usually three) parts, accompanied on a lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

.(p. 306). Their popularity began with the publication of John Dowland's (1563-1626) First Booke of Songs or Ayres (1597). His most famous ayres include "Come again

Come Again (Dowland)

Come Again, sweet love doth now invite is a song by John Dowland. The lyrics are anonymous. Dowland's music can be performed by soloist and lute or by a small vocal group ....

", "Flow my tears

Flow my tears

Flow my Tears is a lute song by the accomplished lutenist and composer John Dowland.Originally composed as an instrumental under the name Lachrimae pavane in 1596, it is Dowland's most famous ayre, and became his signature song, literally as well as metaphorically: he would occasionally sign his...

", "I saw my Lady weepe

I saw my Lady weepe

"I Saw My Lady Weepe" is a lute song from the Second Booke of Songes or Ayres by Renaissance lutenist and composer John Dowland. It is the first song in the Second Booke and is dedicated to Anthony Holborne...

" and "In darkness let me dwell

In darkness let me dwell

In darkness let me dwell is a song by the lutenist and composer John Dowland. Like many of Dowland's songs, its subject matter is melancholy and its lyrics anonymous...

". The genre was further developed by Thomas Campion

Thomas Campion

Thomas Campion was an English composer, poet and physician. He wrote over a hundred lute songs; masques for dancing, and an authoritative technical treatise on music.-Life:...

 (1567-1620) whose Books of Airs (1601) (co-written with Philip Rosseter) containing over 100 lute songs and which was reprinted four times in the 1610s. Although this printing boom died out in the 1620s, ayres continued to be written and performed and were often incorporated into court masques. (p. 309).

Baroque and classical airs

By the 18th century the term came to be used also for purely instrumental

Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....

 lyrical pieces, often movement

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

s of some larger work. Popular examples include the Air from the 3rd Orchestral Suite

Orchestral suites (Bach)

The four Orchestral Suites or Ouvertures BWV 1066–1069 are a set of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, probably composed between 1725 and 1739 in Leipzig...

, BWV

BWV

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number, is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions...

 1068 (of which Air on the G String

Air on the G String

The "Air on the G String" is an adaptation by August Wilhelmj of the Air, the second movement from Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No...

is an arrangement for violin and piano made in the 19th century by August Wilhelmj

August Wilhelmj

August Wilhelmj was a German violinist and teacher.Wilhelmj was a child prodigy. When Henriette Sontag heard him in 1852, when he was seven, she said "You will be the German Paganini"...

) and the Goldberg Aria with variations, BWV 988, a baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 clavier

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

 work, both composed by and the Air from Water Music

Water Music (Handel)

The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often considered three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717 after King George I had requested a concert on the River Thames...

, in the Suite in F Major, HWV 348, by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

.