G minor

G minor

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

G natural minor scale ascending and descending.  Play 

G harmonic minor scale ascending and descending.  Play 

G melodic minor scale ascending and descending.  Play 

G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, and F. For the harmonic minor scale, the F is raised to F♯. Its relative major is B-flat major, and its parallel major is G major.

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. G minor is one of two flat key signatures that require a sharp for the leading-tone (the other is D minor).

Mozart's use of 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 the Piano Quartet No. 1 and the String Quintet 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 (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-flat alto.^[2] Another convention of G minor symphonies observed in Mozart's No. 25 was the choice of E-flat major for the slow movement, with other examples including Haydn's No. 39 and Johann Baptist Wanhal's G minor symphony from before 1771 (Bryan Gm1).^[3]

Notable works in G minor

• Dido's Lament (When I am laid in earth), aria from the opera, Dido and Aeneas – Purcell
• Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001 – Johann Sebastian Bach
• Fantasia and Fugue in G minor "The Great", BWV 542 – Johann Sebastian Bach
• Symphony No. 83 "The Hen" – Joseph Haydn
• Symphony No. 40 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Ballade No. 1 in G minor – Frédéric Chopin
• Polonaise in G minor – Frédéric Chopin
• Piano Concerto No. 1 – Felix Mendelssohn
• Piano Concerto No. 2 – Camille Saint-Saëns
• Slavonic Dance No. 8 in G minor – Antonín Dvořák
• Sicilienne, Op. 78 – Gabriel Fauré
• Prelude in G Minor – Sergei Rachmaninoff
• Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor – Sergei Rachmaninoff
• Much of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem, specifically the Dies Irae, is in G minor.
• Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, "Summer" from The Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi
• Adagio in G minor – "Albinoni's Adagio", now attributed to Remo Giazotto
• Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 – Max Bruch
• Christmas Concerto – Arcangelo Corelli
• Carol of the Bells – Mykola Leontovych
• Hungarian Dance No. 5 – Johannes Brahms
• Cataluña – Isaac Albéniz

References

1. Hellmut Federhofer, foreword to the Bärenreiter Urtext 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 og Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford University Press: 2006) p. 328

External links

• Media related to G minor at Wikimedia Commons