G minor

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

G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major.

The G natural minor scale is:

${ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key g \minor \time 7/4 g4^\markup "G natural minor scale" a bes c d es f g f es d c bes a g \clef bass \key g \minor } }$

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

${ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key g \minor \time 7/4 g4^\markup "G harmonic minor scale" a bes c d es fis g fis es d c bes a g } }$

${ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key g \minor \time 7/4 g4^\markup "G melodic minor scale (ascending and descending)" a bes c d e fis g f! es! d c bes a g } }$

Mozart's use of G minor

G minor has been considered the key through which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart best expressed sadness and tragedy,^[1] and many of his minor key works are in G minor, such as the Piano Quartet No. 1 and the String Quintet in G minor. Though Mozart touched on various minor keys in his symphonies, G minor is the only minor key he used as a main key for his numbered symphonies (No. 25, and the famous No. 40). In the Classical period, symphonies in G minor almost always used four horns, two in G and two in B♭ alto.^[2] Another convention of G minor symphonies observed in Mozart's No. 25 and Mozart's No. 40 was the choice of E-flat major, the subdominant of the relative major B♭, for the slow movement, with other examples including Joseph Haydn's No. 39 and Johann Baptist Wanhal's G-minor symphony from before 1771.^[3]

Notable works in G minor

Arcangelo Corelli
- Christmas Concerto
Henry Purcell
- "Dido's Lament" from Dido and Aeneas
Johann Sebastian Bach
- Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001
- Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542
- Fugue in G minor, "Little", BWV 578
Joseph Haydn
- Symphony No. 83 "The Hen"
Charles-Valentin Alkan
- Scherzo diabolico, Op. 39, No. 3
- 49 Esquisses, Op. 63, no. 6 "Les cloches"
- 49 Esquisses, Op. 63, no. 26 "Petit air, Genre ancien"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Symphony No. 40
Felix Mendelssohn
- Piano Concerto No. 1
Frédéric Chopin
- Ballade No. 1
- Nocturne Op. 37, No. 1
- Prelude Op. 28, No. 22 "Impatience"
- Cello Sonata, Op. 65
- Polonaise in G minor Op. posth.
Franz Liszt
- Transcendental Étude No. 6 "Vision"
Johannes Brahms
- Hungarian Dance No. 5
Camille Saint-Saëns
- Piano Concerto No. 2
Max Bruch
- Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 26
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Symphony No. 1, Op. 13
Antonín Dvořák
- Slavonic Dance No. 8
Gabriel Fauré
- Sicilienne, Op. 78
Claude Debussy
- String Quartet, Op. 10
Isaac Albéniz
- Cataluña
Ralph Vaughan Williams
- Mass in G minor
Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Piano Concerto No. 4
- Prelude in G minor
- Cello Sonata
Sergei Prokofiev
- Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16
Antonio Vivaldi
- Concerto for violin, strings, and continuo (RV 315), Op. 8 No. 2, "Summer" from Le quattro stagioni, in Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione

References

^ Hellmut Federhofer, foreword to the Bärenreiter Urtext edition of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. "G-Moll war für Mozart zeitlebens die Schicksaltonart, die ihm für den Ausdruck des Schmerzes und der Tragik am geeignetsten erschien." ("G minor was, for Mozart, the most suitable fate-key throughout his life for the expression of pain and tragedy.")
^ H. C. Robbins Landon, Mozart and Vienna. New York: Schirmer Books (1991): 48. "Writing for four horns was a regular part of the Sturm und Drang G minor equipment." Robbins Landon also notes that Mozart's No. 40 was first intended to have four horns.
^ James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford University Press: 2006) p. 328

External links

Media related to G minor at Wikimedia Commons

[1] Hellmut Federhofer, foreword to the Bärenreiter Urtext edition of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. "G-Moll war für Mozart zeitlebens die Schicksaltonart, die ihm für den Ausdruck des Schmerzes und der Tragik am geeignetsten erschien." ("G minor was, for Mozart, the most suitable fate-key throughout his life for the expression of pain and tragedy.")

[2] H. C. Robbins Landon, Mozart and Vienna. New York: Schirmer Books (1991): 48. "Writing for four horns was a regular part of the Sturm und Drang G minor equipment." Robbins Landon also notes that Mozart's No. 40 was first intended to have four horns.

[3] James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford University Press: 2006) p. 328

[1]

[2]

[3]

Mozart's use of G minor

Notable works in G minor

See also

References

External links