G minor

Minor key and scale based on the note G

G minor

Relative key| B-flat major

|

Parallel key| G major
Dominant key| D minor
Subdominant key| 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:

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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:

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## Scale degree chords

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The scale degree chords of G minor are:

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

## Mozart's use of G minor

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Main article: Mozart and 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 Piano Quartet No. 1 and String Quintet No. 4. 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

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See also: List of symphonies in G minor

* Arcangelo Corelli
* Christmas Concerto
* Henry Purcell
* "Dido's Lament" from Dido and Aeneas
* Antonio Vivaldi
* Violin Concerto, Op. 4/6, RV 316a
* Violin Concerto, Op. 6/1, RV 324
* Violin Concerto, Op. 6/3, RV 318
* Violin Concerto, Op. 7/3, RV 326
* Violin Concerto "Summer" from "The four seasons", Op. 8/2, RV 315
* Violin Concerto, Op. 8/8, RV 332
* Flute Concerto La Notte, Op. 10/2, RV 439
* Oboe Concerto, Op. 11/6, RV 460
* Georg Philipp Telemann
* Fantasia for flute solo No. 12
* Fantasia for viola da gamba solo No. 7
* Johann Sebastian Bach
* Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001
* Great Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 542
* "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578
* English Suite No. 3, BWV 808
* Joseph Haydn
* Stabat Mater
* Symphony No. 39
* Symphony No. 83 "The Hen"
* String Quartet No. 26, Op. 20, No. 3
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
* Symphony No. 25
* Symphony No. 40
* String Quintet No. 4
* Piano Quartet No. 1
* Six Variations on "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant"
* Ludwig van Beethoven
* Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 5, No. 2
* Piano Sonata No. 19, Op. 49/1
* Franz Schubert
* Stabat Mater, D 175
* String Quartet No. 9, D 173
* Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. posth. 137/3, D 408
* Carl Maria von Weber
* Trio for Piano, Flute and Cello, Op. 63
* Felix Mendelssohn
* Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 25
* String Symphony No. 12
* Frédéric Chopin
* Piano Trio, Op. 8
* Ballade No. 1, Op. 23
* Nocturne, Op. 37, No. 1
* Prelude "Impatience", Op. 28, No. 22
* Cello Sonata, Op. 65
* Polonaise in G minor, Op. posth.
* Charles-Valentin Alkan
* Scherzo diabolico, Op. 39, No. 3
* Esquisses, Op. 63, No. 6 "Les cloches"; No. 26 "Petit air, Genre ancien"
* Franz Liszt
* Transcendental Étude No. 6 "Vision"
* Robert Schumann
* Symphony in G minor ("Zwickau")
* Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 22
* Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 110
* Clara Schumann
* Piano Trio, Op. 17
* Bedřich Smetana
* Piano Trio, Op. 15
* Johannes Brahms
* Piano Quartet No. 1, Op. 25
* Rhapsody, Op. 79/2
* Capriccio, Op. 116/3
* Ballade, Op. 118/3
* Hungarian Dance No. 5 (orchestral version)
* Camille Saint-Saëns
* Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 22
* Danse macabre, Op. 40
* Max Bruch
* Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 26
* Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
* Symphony No. 1, Op. 13
* Antonín Dvořák
* Piano Concerto, Op. 33
* Slavonic Dance No. 8
* Rondo for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 94
* Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 26
* Bagatelles, Op. 47
* Edvard Grieg
* Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song, Op. 24
* Gabriel Fauré
* Sicilienne, Op. 78
* Claude Debussy
* String Quartet, Op. 10
* Isaac Albéniz
* Cataluña, Op. 47, No. 2
* Mykola Leontovych
* Shchedryk
* Gustav Holst
* Mars, the bringer of war, from the orchestral suite The Planets
* 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
* Dmitri Shostakovich
* Symphony No. 11 The year 1905, Op. 103
* Piano Quintet, Op. 57

## See also

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* Key (music)
* Major and minor

## References

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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

## External links

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* Media related to G minor at Wikimedia Commons

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Diatonic scales and keys

|  |  | 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♯

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