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 has 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.^[1] By the end of the Baroque era, however, conventional academic views of B minor had shifted: Composer-theorist Francesco Galeazzi (1758–1819)^[2] 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".^[3]

Scale degree chords

The scale degree chords of B minor are:

• Tonic – B minor
• Supertonic – C-sharp diminished
• Mediant – D major
• Subdominant – E minor
• Dominant – F-sharp minor
• Submediant – G major
• Subtonic – A major

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
  • Partita No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002
  • Flute Sonata in B minor, BWV 1030
• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Bagatelle Op. 126/4
  • Allegretto WoO 61 for piano
• Charles Auguste de Bériot
  • Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 32
• Alban Berg
  • Piano sonata, Op. 1
• Johannes Brahms
  • Ballade (Intermezzo) Op. 10/3
  • Capriccio Op. 78/2
  • Rhapsody Op. 79/1
  • Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115
  • Intermezzo Op. 119/1
• Alexander Borodin
  • Symphony No. 2
  • Sonata for cello and piano
• 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
  • Mazurka Op. 30/2
  • Mazurka, Op. 33/4
  • Waltz, Op. 69, No. 2
• Gaetano Donizetti
  • String Quartet No. 16
• Antonín Dvořák
  • Cello Concerto, Op. 104
• Edward Elgar
  • Violin Concerto
• César Franck
  • Prélude, Choral et Fugue, FWV 21
• Johann Nepomuk Hummel
  • Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 89
• Jan Kalivoda
  • Symphony No. 5, Op. 106
• Franz Liszt
  • Piano Sonata, S. 178
  • Ballade No. 2, S. 171
• Felix Mendelssohn
  • String Symphony No. 10 in B minor, MWV N 10
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Adagio, K. 540
• Niccolò Paganini
  • Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 7
• 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
• Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Violin Concerto No. 3, Op. 61
• Domenico Scarlatti
  • 12 of his 555 piano sonatas: K 27, 87, 173, 197, 227, 293, 376, 377, 408, 409, 497, 498
• Franz Schubert
  • Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished), D. 759
  • Rondo in B minor for violin and piano, D. 895
• Alexander Scriabin
  • Fantaisie in B minor, Op. 28
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Pezzo capriccioso
  • Manfred Symphony
  • Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique), Op. 74
• Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Fantasia for flute solo No. 3
  • Fantasia for violin solo No. 9
  • Sonata for two flutes or violins No. 5
• Antonio Vivaldi
  • Trio Sonata Op. 1/11
  • Violin Sonata, Op. 2/5
  • Concerto for violin Op. 3/10
  • Violin Sonata, Op. 5/4
  • Violin Concerto for four violins Op. 9/12

See also

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

References

Notes

1. Tusa 1993, pp. 2–3, n. 5.
2. Galeazzi 1817, p. ^{[page needed]}.
3. Tusa 1993, p. 2, n. 3.

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