B minor

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B minor

Relative key	D major
Parallel key	B major
Component pitches
B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, A, B

B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A♯. Its key signature has two sharps linked Scales/keys below (see below: Scales and keys).

Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major.

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

In Baroque times, B minor was regarded as the key of passive suffering.^[1] The theorist Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739-1791) regarded B minor as a key expressing a quiet acceptance of fate and very gentle complaint, something commentators find to be in line with Bach's use of the key in the St. John's Passion.^[2] By Beethoven's time, however, the perception of B minor had changed considerably: Francesco Galeazzi wrote that B minor was not suitable for music in good taste, and Beethoven labelled a B minor melodic idea in one of his sketchbooks as a "black key".^[3] In relation to the Baroque interpretation of the scale, the B minor chord also has a very melancholic and grieving feel to it, giving the feeling of suffering and gentle complaint. The chord was famously used as the first chord in Pink Floyd's 1979 hit "Comfortably Numb", commonly renowned to be a very emotional and melancholic song. The second movement of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, one of the most famous compositions for the classical guitar, is in B minor.

It is a common key used in rock, folk, country and other guitarist-based styles because the standard tuning of a guitar causes all the open strings to be scale degrees of B minor.

[edit] Well-known Classical pieces in this key

• Violin Concerto No. 3 (Saint-Saens) - Camille Saint-Saens
• Mass in B minor - Johann Sebastian Bach
• Piano Sonata in B minor - Franz Liszt
• Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58 - Frederic Chopin
• Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor (La Campanella) - Niccolo Paganini
• Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathetique) - Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky
• E lucevan le stelle from Tosca - Giacomo Puccini
• Cello Concerto in B minor - Antonin Dvorak
• Concerto for 4 Violins and Cello, RV 580 (Concerto No. 10 from L'estro Armonico) - Antonio Vivaldi

See also: List of symphonies in B minor

[edit] References

1. ^ Xinh's JS Bach B-Minor Mass Balance. Retrieved January 20, 2007.
2. ^ Michael C. Tusa, "Beethoven's "C-Minor Mood": Some Thoughts on the Structural Implications of Key Choice" in Beethoven Forum 2, Christoph Reynolds, ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (1993): 2 - 3, n. 5
3. ^ Ibid, 2, n. 3

v • d • e Diatonic Scales and Keys
	flats sharps major minor major minor 0 C, a 1 F d G e 2 B♭ g D b 3 E♭ c A f♯ 4 A♭ f E c♯ 5 D♭ b♭ B g♯ 6 G♭ e♭ F♯ d♯ 7 C♭ a♭ C♯ a♯
lower case letters are minor the table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale