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C minor

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C minor
Relative keyEb major
Parallel keyC major
Component pitches
C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb
Also see: C major, or C-sharp minor.

C minor (abbreviated Cm) is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E-flat, F, G, A-flat, B-flat (often raised to B natural to function as a leading tone) and C. Its key signature consists of three flats (see below: Scales and keys).

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

Its relative key is E-flat major, and its parallel major is C major.

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

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, with the quintessential work in the key being his Symphony No. 5; see Beethoven and C minor. The fact that Brahms's Symphony No. 1 is in C minor contributed to it being nicknamed "Beethoven's Tenth" (Beethoven's actual Symphony No. 10 in E flat major may have had a significant central C minor section in the first movement). Three of Anton Bruckner's ten numbered symphonies are in C minor.

C minor is arguably the hardest chord to play in standard form on the guitar.

Well-known classical compositions in this key

Well-known contemporary music in this key

Scales and keys

Notes


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