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:
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:
Scale degree chords 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
G minor has been considered the key through which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart best expressed sadness and tragedy,Hellmut Federhofer, foreword to the Bärenreiter Urtext edition of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. "" ("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, 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.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 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.James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford University Press: 2006) p. 328
Notable works 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 Key (music) Major and minor
References
External links