Key signature names and translations

When a particular musical key or key signature is not described in the English language, there are two main systems that are used instead:

1. Fixed do solmization - used in Italian, French (also in Belgium), Spanish, Portuguese and Russian key references.
2. German key notation - used in German and Dutch (i.e. Holland, not in Flanders, where the French solmization system is used) key references.

To construct a key description, locate the note name from the pitch translation table and append a major/minor alteration from the lower table where required.

Pitch translation table

alphabetic systems				solmization systems
English	German	Dutch	Japanese	Italian	French	Spanish	Portuguese	Russian	Romanian
C	C	C	ハ (ha)	Do	Do (Ut)	Do	Dó	До	Do
C sharp	Cis	Cis	嬰ハ (ei-ha)	Do diesis	Do dièse	Do sostenido	Dó sustenido	До-диез	Do diez
C flat	Ces	Ces	変ハ (hen-ha)	Do bemolle	Do bémol	Do bemol	Dó bemol	До-бемоль	Do bemol
D	D	D	ニ (ni)	Re	Ré	Re	Ré	Ре	Re
D sharp	Dis	Dis	嬰ニ (ei-ni)	Re diesis	Ré dièse	Re sostenido	Ré sustenido	Ре-диез	Re diez
D flat	Des	Des	変ニ (hen-ni)	Re bemolle	Ré bémol	Re bemol	Ré bemol	Ре-бемоль	Re bemol
E	E	E	ホ (ho)	Mi	Mi	Mi	Mi	Ми	Mi
E sharp	Eis	Eis	嬰ホ (ei-ho)	Mi diesis	Mi dièse	Mi sostenido	Mi sustenido	Ми-диез	Mi diez
E flat	Es	Es	変ホ (hen-ho)	Mi bemolle	Mi bémol	Mi bemol	Mi bemol	Ми-бемоль	Mi bemol
F	F	F	ヘ (he)	Fa	Fa	Fa	Fá	Фа	Fa
F sharp	Fis	Fis	嬰ヘ (ei-he)	Fa diesis	Fa dièse	Fa sostenido	Fá sustenido	Фа-диез	Fa diez
F flat	Fes	Fes	変ヘ (hen-he)	Fa bemolle	Fa bémol	Fa bemol	Fá bemol	Фа-бемоль	Fa bemol
G	G	G	ト (to)	Sol	Sol	Sol	Sol	Соль	Sol
G sharp	Gis	Gis	嬰ト (ei-to)	Sol diesis	Sol dièse	Sol sostenido	Sol sustenido	Соль-диез	Sol diez
G flat	Ges	Ges	変ト (hen-to)	Sol bemolle	Sol bémol	Sol bemol	Sol bemol	Соль-бемоль	Sol bemol
A	A	A	イ (i)	La	La	La	Lá	Ля	La
A sharp	Ais	Ais	嬰イ (ei-i)	La diesis	La dièse	La sostenido	Lá sustenido	Ля-диез	La diez
A flat	As	As	変イ (hen-i)	La bemolle	La bémol	La bemol	Lá bemol	Ля-бемоль	La bemol
B	H	B	ロ (ro)	Si	Si	Si	Si	Си	Si
B sharp	His	Bis	嬰ロ (ei-ro)	Si diesis	Si dièse	Si sostenido	Si sustenido	Си-диез	Si diez
B flat	B	Bes	変ロ (hen-ro)	Si bemolle	Si bémol	Si bemol	Si bemol	Си-бемоль	Si bemol

Major/minor alteration

English	German	Dutch	Japanese	Italian	French	Spanish	Portuguese	Russian	Romanian
major	Dur	groot	長調 (chōchō)	maggiore	majeur	mayor	maior	мажор	major
minor	Moll	klein	短調 (tanchō)	minore	mineur	menor	menor	минор	minor

Note that the 'major' alteration is usually superfluous, as a key description missing an alteration is invariably assumed to be major.

In the German notation scheme, a hyphen is added between the pitch and the alteration (D-Dur). Minor key signatures are written with a lower case letter (d-Moll).

In the Russian notation scheme, a hyphen is also added between the pitch and the alteration, usually with no distinction made between the upper and lower cases of the letters (ре-мажор, ре-минор).

For example, to describe Bach's Mass in B minor one could use:

• B minor (English)
• h-Moll (German)
• b (klein) (Dutch)
• ロ短調 (Ro tanchō) (Japanese)
• Si minore (Italian)
• Si mineur (French)
• Si menor (Spanish)
• Si menor (Portuguese)
• Си-минор (Russian)
• Si minor (Romanian)

External links

• Table of the names of keys in French, German, Italian, and Spanish hosted by Yale University.