B-flat major
Relative key | G minor |
---|---|
Parallel key | B-flat minor enharmonic: A-sharp minor |
Dominant key | F major |
Subdominant | E-flat major |
Component pitches | |
B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G, A |
In music theory, B-flat major is a major scale based on B♭, with pitches B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor (not enharmonically A-sharp minor).
The B-flat major scale is:
Many transposing instruments are pitched in B-flat major, including the clarinet, trumpet, tenor saxophone, and soprano saxophone. As a result, B-flat major is one of the most popular keys for concert band compositions.
In most Central and Northern European languages (German, Hungarian, Nordic, Baltic, Western and Southern Slavic languages, except Bulgarian), the pitch B is usually called "H" while B♭ is called "B".
History
Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 98 is credited as the first symphony he (or anyone else) wrote in that key in which he included trumpet and timpani parts. Actually, his brother Michael Haydn had written one such symphony earlier, No. 36, though Joseph Haydn still gets credit for writing the timpani part at actual pitch with an F major key signature (instead of transposing with a C major key signature), a procedure that made sense since he limited that instrument to the tonic and dominant pitches.[1] Many editions of the work, however, use no key signature and specify the instrument as "Timpani in B♭–F".
Five of Mozart's piano concertos are in B-flat major.
Notable classical compositions
- François Couperin
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Luigi Boccherini
- Cello Concerto No. 9, G. 482
- Joseph Haydn
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Franz Schubert
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Frédéric Chopin
- Robert Schumann
- Anton Bruckner
- Johannes Brahms
- Sergei Prokofiev
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- Ottorino Respighi
- Sergei Bortkiewicz
- Etude no. 3 in B-flat, op. 15
- Prelude no. 9 in B-flat, op. 33
References
- ^ H. C. Robbins Landon, Haydn Symphonies, London: British Broadcasting Corporation (1966): 57
External links
Media related to B-flat major at Wikimedia Commons