Term apparently originating in France and England in the 16th century and often used synonymously with ‘tune’ or ‘song’. It was first applied mainly to lighter pieces, but from 1571 air de cour was used in France for solo lute-songs and ensemble songs, both light and serious. The vogue of the English lute ayre began in 1597 with the publication of the first of Dowland's four books. Other composers included Campion, Rosseter and Alfonso Ferrabosco (ii). Campion preferred the simple ‘light ayre’, while Dowland led towards the declamatory Italian style (see Aria). After the decline of the lute ayre, in the mid-17th century, the term was often used in England more generally for a simple, unpretentious song quite different from the Italian aria. With the air à boire (‘drinking-song’) in the 1670s the more serious type of French song was called simply air. Even before this the word was applied to instrumental pieces; there are several airs in Purcell's stage works and in later Baroque suites, often in bourrée rhythm but sometimes simply meaning ‘melody’.
