A-flat minor

Minor scale based on A-flat

A-flat minor

Relative key| C-flat major

|

Parallel key| A-flat major
Dominant key| E-flat minor
→enharmonic: D-sharp minor
Subdominant| D-flat minor (theoretical)
→enharmonic: C-sharp minor
Enharmonic| G-sharp minor
Component pitches
A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, G♭

A-flat minor is a minor scale based on A♭, consisting of the pitches A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, and G♭. Its key signature has seven flats. Its relative major is C-flat major (or enharmonically B major), its parallel major is A-flat major, and its enharmonic equivalent is G-sharp minor.

The A-flat natural minor scale is:

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

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## Scale degree chords

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

## Music in A-flat minor

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Although A-flat minor occurs in modulation in works in other keys, it is only rarely used as the principal key of a piece of music. Some well-known uses of the key in classical and romantic music include:

* The Funeral March in Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12, Op. 26.
* An early section of the last movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 31, Op. 110 (although the key signature of this section uses only 6 flats, not 7).
* The second Trio in Franz Schubert's Klavierstücke in E-flat major for Piano, D946/2.
* Schubert's Impromptu in A♭ major actually begins in A♭ minor, though this is written as A♭ major with accidentals.
* The second movement of Ferdinand Ries' Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra in E-flat Major, also written as A♭ major with accidentals.
* The first piece "Aime-moi" ("Love me") from Charles-Valentin Alkan's Trois morceaux dans le genre pathétique
* Max Bruch's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Op. 88a, although the piece ends in A-flat Major.
* The Evocación from Book I of Isaac Albéniz's Iberia.
* Isaac Albéniz's La Vega.
* Etude No.13 in Moritz Moszkowski's Études de Virtuosité, Op. 72, although it ends in A-flat major.
* Leoš Janáček uses it for his Violin Sonata and the organ solo of his Glagolitic Mass.
* The opening of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird.
* Franz Liszt's original version of "La campanella" from Grandes études de Paganini, which was subsequently rewritten in G-sharp minor.
* In Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony, there is a particularly aggressive restatement of the introduction of the third movement in A-flat minor.[1]
* The first movement of Charles Koechlin's Partita for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 205, is in A-flat minor, and the earlier A-flat-minor portion is written with a 7-flat key signature, but the later A-flat-minor portion is written without any key signature, and uses the necessary flats as accidentals.[2]
* It is also used in Frederick Loewe's score to the 1956 musical play My Fair Lady; the Second Servants' Chorus is set in A-flat minor (the preceding and following choruses being a semitone lower and higher respectively).
* Antonín Dvořák's String Quartet No. 14, Op. 105, opens in A-flat minor.

See also: List of symphonies in A-flat minor

More often, pieces in a minor mode that have A-flat's pitch as tonic are notated in the enharmonic key, G-sharp minor, because that key has just five sharps as opposed to the seven flats of A-flat minor.

In some scores, the A-flat minor key signature in the bass clef is written with the flat for the F on the second line from the top.[nb 1]

## Notes

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1. ^ An example of this is the bass clef staff of the harp parts in the Jupiter movement of Gustav Holst's orchestral suite The Planets.[3]

## References

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1. ^ Mahler, Gustav. Symphony No. 9 in Full Score, Dover, ISBN 0-486-27492-6 (1993), pp. 116–119.
2. ^ Animated score on YouTube, Charles Koechlin's Partita for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 205
3. ^ Holst, Gustav. The Planets in Full Score, Dover, ISBN 0-486-29277-0 (1996), p. 109.

## External links

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* Overview of Compositions with 7 Accidentals

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Diatonic scales and keys

| Circle of fifths |  | No. | Flats | Sharps

|
|

Major | minor | Major  | minor
0  | C | a | C | a
1  | F | d | G | e
2  | B♭ | g | D | b
3  | E♭ | c | A | f♯
4  | A♭ | f | E | c♯
5  | D♭ | b♭ | B | g♯
6  | G♭ | e♭ | F♯ | d♯
7  | C♭ | a♭ | C♯ | a♯
8 | F♭ | d♭ | G♯ | e♯
The table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale. Minor scales are written in lower case.
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*[No.]: Number