J. S. Bach wrote a great many pieces during his lifetime, most of them for use in the church. Later in life, he did have a patron, Prince Leopold of Anhalt, for whom he wrote his third orchestral suite. The second movement of this suite is a beautiful, soaring work which has come to be known popularly as "Air on the G String."

Here it is presented for trombone quintet consisting of one soprano trombone (slide trumpet), three tenor trombones, and one bass trombone. If a soprano slide trombone is not available, the part can be played on a standard soprano valve trombone (trumpet). The soprano part is written transposed for a Bb instrument, while the other parts are written in concert key.

MP3 sound sample: entire piece (synthesizer/midi).



FLYING BACH by J. S. Bach, arranged by Tom Kirkland for trombone quintet consisting of one soprano, three tenors and one bass trombone, comes in a pdf file of 221K, with a five-page score, five one-page parts, and a license page, eleven pages in all. Performance time should be about four minutes.