B minor

B minor

Relative key	D major
Parallel key	B major
Dominant key	F-sharp minor
Subdominant	E minor
Component pitches
B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, A

B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, and A. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major.

The B natural minor scale is:

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The B harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:

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 his St John Passion. By the end of the Baroque era, however, conventional academic views of B minor had shifted: Composer-theorist Francesco Galeazzi (1758–1819) opined that B minor was not suitable for music in good taste. Beethoven labelled a B-minor melodic idea in one of his sketchbooks as a "black key".

Notable compositions in B minor

See also: List of symphonies in B minor

• Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Mass in B minor
  • Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV 1067
  • Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544
  • French Suite No. 3, BWV 814
  • Flute Sonata in B minor, BWV 1030
• Johannes Brahms
  • Clarinet Quintet
• Alexander Borodin
  • Symphony No. 2
• Frédéric Chopin
  • Scherzo No. 1, Op. 20
  • Étude, Op. 25, No. 10
  • Prelude in B minor "Tolling Bells", Op. 28, No. 6
  • Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 58
  • Waltz, Op. 69, No. 2
• Antonín Dvořák
  • Cello Concerto, Op. 104
• Johann Nepomuk Hummel
  • Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 89
• Franz Liszt
  • Piano Sonata
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Adagio, K. 540
• Niccolò Paganini
  • Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 7
• Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Violin Concerto No. 3, Op. 61
• Franz Schubert
  • Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished), D. 759
• Alexander Scriabin
  • Fantaisie in B minor, Op. 28
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique), Op. 74
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
  • Moments musicaux No. 3, Op. 16
  • Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10
  • Études-Tableaux No. 4 in B minor, Op. 39

See also

• Key (music)
• Major and minor
• Chord (music)
• Chord names and symbols (popular music)

References

Notes

Sources

• Galeazzi, Francesco (1817). Elementi teorico-pratici di musica con un saggio sopra l'arte di suonare il violino analizzata, ed a dimostrabili principi ridotta. Ascoli. See also Francesco Galeazzi, The Theoretical-Practical Elements of Music, Parts III and IV; English translation, with introduction and commentary, by Deborah Burton and Gregory W. Harwood (Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2012); ISBN 978-0-252-03708-5.
• Tusa, Michael C. (1993). "Beethoven's 'C-Minor Mood': Some Thoughts on the Structural Implications of Key Choice". In Christoph Reynolds (ed.). Beethoven Forum. Vol. 2. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803239098.

External links

• Media related to B minor at Wikimedia Commons