B minor

B minor

Relative key	D major
Parallel key	B major enharmonic: C♭ 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 (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. 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 Passion. 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". 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. Eagles' "Hotel California", Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb", Metallica's "Fade to Black", and Paul Kelly's "Peace" all commonly renowned to be very emotional and melancholic songs, are written in B minor.^{[citation needed]} 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.

Well-known Classical pieces in this key

• J.S. Bach - Mass in B minor
• Bartók - Violin Concerto No. 2
• Brahms - Clarinet Quintet
• Chopin - Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20
• Chopin - Étude in B minor, Op. 25, No. 10
• Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
• Chopin - Waltz in B minor, Op. 69, No. 2
• Dvořák - Cello Concerto in B minor
• Hummel - Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 89
• Liszt - Piano Sonata in B minor
• Mozart - Adagio from Flute Quartet No. 1, K. 285
• Mozart - Adagio in B minor, K. 540 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Paganini - Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor (La Campanella)
• Puccini - "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca
• Saint-Saëns - Violin Concerto No. 3 (Saint-Saëns)
• Schubert - Symphony No. 8 in B minor
• Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathetique)
• Vivaldi - Concerto for 4 Violins and Cello, RV 580 (Concerto No. 10 from L'estro Armonico)
• Schubert - Symphony No. 8, D 759 "Unfinished"

See also: List of symphonies in B minor