C minor

This article is about the C minor scale. For the chord C minor, see minor chord.

C minor

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

Ascending and descending C minor scale.

C minor melodic scale  listen }

C minor (abbreviated c or Cm) is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, and B♭. The harmonic minor raises the B♭ to B♮. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with naturals and accidentals as necessary.

Its key signature consists of three flats (see below: Scales and keys). Its relative major is E-flat major, and its parallel major is C major.

Usage

In the Baroque period, music in C minor was usually written with a two-flat key signature, and some modern editions of that repertoire retain that convention.

Of the two piano concertos that Mozart wrote in a minor key, one of them is in C minor, No. 24, K. 491.

C minor has been associated with heroic struggle since Beethoven's time. Beethoven wrote some of his most characteristic works in the key of C minor, including the Symphony No. 5 and no fewer than three piano sonatas. (See Beethoven and C minor.)

Brahms's first symphony and first string quartet were composed in C minor; these were both genres with which Beethoven was closely associated during Brahms's lifetime.

Three of Anton Bruckner's ten numbered symphonies are in C minor, as are two of Dmitri Shostakovich's symphonies.

Notable compositions

• Crucifixus etiam pro nobis - Antonio Lotti
• Hear my prayer, O Lord, Z15 - Purcell
• Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 – Bach
• Cello Suite No. 5 BWV 1011: VI. Gigue – Bach
• The Musical Offering, BWV 1079 – Bach
• Great Mass in C minor – Mozart
• Piano Concerto No. 24 – Mozart
• Piano Concerto No. 3 – Beethoven
• Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven), Op. 67 (1804–8)
• Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op. 80 (1808) – Beethoven
• Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor (Pathétique) – Beethoven
• Piano Sonata No. 32 – Ludwig van Beethoven
• Symphony No. 2 (Tchaikovsky) Little Russian in C minor, Op. 17 (1872)
• Symphony No. 8 – Bruckner
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor – Rachmaninoff
• Étude Op. 10, No. 12 – Chopin
• Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No.1 – Chopin
• Symphony No. 4 – Shostakovich
• Symphony No. 8 – Shostakovich
• Symphony No. 2 – Mahler

See also: List of symphonies in C minor

External links

Media related to C minor at Wikimedia Commons