G minor has been considered the key through which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart best expressed sadness and tragedy,Hellmut Federhofer, Foreword to the Bärenreiter Urtext of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag (1958), p. iv. "" ["G minor was, for Mozart, the most suitable fate-key throughout his life for the expression of pain and tragedy."] and many of his minor key works are 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.
In the Classical period, symphonies in G minor almost always used four horns, two in G and two in B alto.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. Another convention of G minor symphonies observed in Mozart's No. 25 and No. 40 was the choice of the subdominant of the relative key (B major), E major, for the slow movement; other non-Mozart examples of this practice include J. C. Bach Op. 6, No. 6, from 1769, Haydn's No. 39 (1768/69) and Johann Baptist Wanhal's G minor symphony sometime before 1771 (Bryan Gm1).James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford University Press: 2006) p. 328
Isolated sections in this key within Mozart's compositions may also evoke an atmosphere of grand tragedy, one example being the stormy G minor middle section to the otherwise serene B major slow movement in the Piano Concerto No. 20.
List of works in G minor
God is our refuge, K. 20 Trio from String Quartet No. 3, K. 156 Trio from String Quartet No. 14, K. 387 Andante from Symphony No. 5, K. 22 Andante from Piano Concerto No. 4, K. 41 Fugue in G minor, K. 154 (385k) (organ) Allegro from String Quartet No. 6, K. 159 Trio from String Quartet No. 12, K. 172 Symphony No. 25, K. 183/173dB "Vorrei punirti indegno" from La finta giardiniera, K. 196 "Agnus Dei" from Missa Brevis No. 9, K. 275/272b Allegro in G minor, K. 312/189i/590d (first movement of an unfinished sonata) 6 Variations in G minor on "Helas, j'ai perdu mon amant", K. 360 (violin and piano) Andante con moto from Violin Sonata in E-flat major, K. 380 "Rex tremendae", and "Domine Jesu Christe" (Andante con moto, G minor) from Requiem in D minor, K. 626 Fugue in G minor, K. 401/375e (organ) Andante un poco sostenuto from Piano Concerto No. 18, K. 456 Der Zauberer, K. 472 Piano Quartet No. 1, K. 478 String Quintet in G minor, K. 516 Symphony No. 40, K. 550 "Ach, ich fühl's" from The Magic Flute, K. 620
See also Beethoven and C minor
References