E minor

E minor

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

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

The E natural minor scale is:

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

Much of the classical guitar repertoire is in E minor, as this is a very natural key for the instrument. In standard tuning (E A D G B E), four of the instrument's six open (unfretted) strings are part of the tonic chord. The key of E minor is also popular in heavy metal music, as its tonic is the lowest note on a standard-tuned guitar.

Notable compositions

See also: List of symphonies in E minor

• Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No. 44 (Trauer)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Violin Sonata No. 21
• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • String Quartet No. 8
  • Piano Sonata No. 27
• Niccolò Paganini
  • Caprice No. 3
  • Caprice No. 15
• Felix Mendelssohn
  • Violin Concerto
• Frédéric Chopin
  • Nocturne in E minor
  • Piano Concerto No. 1
  • Waltz in E minor
  • Étude Op. 25, No. 5 "Wrong Note"
  • Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 "Suffocation"
• Charles-Valentin Alkan
  • Le festin d'Ésope, Op. 39, No. 12, from 12 etudes in all the minor keys
• Johannes Brahms
  • Symphony No. 4
  • Cello Sonata No. 1
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No. 5
• Antonín Dvořák
  • Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"
  • Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 46
  • Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 72
• Edvard Grieg
  • Piano Sonata
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
  • Scheherazade
• Edward Elgar
  • Cello Concerto
  • Sea Pictures
  • String Quartet
  • Violin Sonata
• Jean Sibelius
  • Symphony No. 1, Op. 39
• Ralph Vaughan Williams
  • Symphony No. 6
  • Symphony No. 9
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
  • Moments musicaux, Op. 16, No. 4
  • Symphony No. 2
  • Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
• Maurice Ravel
  • Le tombeau de Couperin
• Sergei Prokofiev
  • Montagues and Capulets
• Dmitri Shostakovich
  • Piano Trio No. 2
  • Symphony No. 10
• Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Bourrée in E minor, BWV 996
  • Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548

See also

• Key (music)
• Major and minor
• Chord (music)
• Chord notation

External links

• Media related to E minor at Wikimedia Commons