Schumann: ‘Of foreign lands and people’ from Kinderszenen opus 15
Debussy: Arabesque no. 2
Ravel: ‘Pavane pour une infant défunte’ (‘Pavane for a dead princess’)
G minor
The key signature of G minor has two flats. Its relative major is B flat major. Its tonic
major is G major. The natural minor scale of G minor consists of the notes G, A, B flat,
C, D, E flat, F and G. G minor is one of the two flat key signatures that require a sharp
for the leading note to form the harmonic minor. The other is G minor. The following
are in G minor: Bach’s St John Passion, Mozart’s symphonies no. 25 ‘Little G minor’
and no. 40 ‘Great G minor’, Mozart’s String Quintet K ..., Bruch’s violin concerto no. 2,
Elgar’s theme of the ‘Enigma Variations’ and Shostakovitch’s Symphony no. 11 opus
- Mozart’s symphonies nos. 25 and 40 are his only symphonies in that key and are
the only symphonies that principally use a minor key.
Some piano pieces in G minor:
Mendelssohn: ‘Venetian Boat Song’ (‘Songs without words’)
Chopin: Ballade no. 1 opus 23
Chopin: Sonata for cello and piano opus 65
Brahms: Rhapsody opus 79 no. 2
Rachmaninoff: Sonata for cello and piano opus 19
Rachmaninoff: Prelude opus 23 no. 5 ‘Cossack’
A flat major
The key signature of E flat major has four flats. Its relative minor is F minor. Its tonic
minor is A flat minor. The scale of A flat major consists of the notes A flat, B flat, C, D
flat, E flat, F, G and A flat. A flat major is the flattest major key used by Scarlatti in his
keyboard sonatas but he used it only twice, in K 127 and K130. The key of A flat major
is said to have a peaceful, serene feel and was used quite often by Schubert. Beethoven
chose the key of A flat major for the slow movement of his ‘Pathetique’ Sonata in C
minor opus 13 and for the slow movement of every other work he wrote in C minor,
except for his piano concerto no. 3 (E major) and his Sonata no. 32 opus 11 (C major,
although this a set of variations rather than a slow movement as such). Twenty-four of
Chopin’s piano pieces are in the key of A flat major, more than in any other key.
Elgar’s symphony no. 1 and Bax’s symphony no. 7 are in A flat major.