B-flat minor

B♭ minor

Relative key	D♭ major
Parallel key	B♭ major
Dominant key	F minor
Subdominant	E♭ minor
Component pitches
B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭

B-flat natural minor scale ascending and descending.  Play 

B-flat harmonic minor scale ascending and descending.  Play 

B-flat melodic minor scale ascending and descending.  Play 

B♭ minor or B-flat minor is a minor scale based on B-flat, consisting of the pitches B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, G♭, and A♭. Its key signature has five flats. The harmonic minor scale would use an A♮ instead of A♭.

Its relative major is D-flat major, and its parallel major is B-flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent is A-sharp minor.

B-flat minor is traditionally a 'dark' key.^[1] Important oboe solos in this key in the orchestral literature include the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, which depicts "the feeling that you get when you are all alone", in Tchaikovsky's words. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is also in B-flat minor. An Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss begins and ends in B-flat minor.

The old valveless horn was barely capable of playing in B-flat minor; the only example found in 18th-century music is a modulation that occurs in the first minuet of Franz Krommer's Concertino in D major, Op. 80.^[2]

In classical music

• Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings
• Frédéric Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2,^[3] Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1,^[4] Scherzo No. 2^[5]
• Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata No. 2^[6]
• Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 and String Quartet No. 13
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1,^[7] Sérénade mélancolique and Marche Slave
• Sir William Walton's Symphony No. 1

Notable songs

• "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed. The verses are written in B-flat minor.^[8]
• "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson is in the key of B-flat minor.^[9]
• "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2 is in the key of B-flat minor.^[10]
• "Part-Time Lover" by Stevie Wonder is in the key of B-flat minor.^[11]
• "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry is in the key of B-flat minor.^[12]

References

1. Wilfred Mellers, "Round and About in Górecki's Symphony No. 3" Tempo 168 3 (1989): 23
2. J. Murray Barbour, Trumpets, Horns, and Music (1964), p. 163
3. Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 35 (Chopin, Frédéric): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
4. Nocturnes, Op. 9 (Chopin, Frédéric): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
5. Scherzo No. 2, Op. 31 (Chopin, Frédéric): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
6. Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36 (Rachmaninoff, Sergei): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
7. Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23 (Tchaikovsky, Pyotr): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
8. "Perfect Day" sheetmusic
9. "Say Say Say" sheetmusic
10. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" sheetmusic
11. "Part-Time Lover" sheetmusic
12. "Dark Horse" sheetmusic

External links

• Media related to B-flat minor at Wikimedia Commons