page_title: Circle of fifths
section_title: Nineteenth century
hierarchical_section_title: Circle of fifths / Use / Nineteenth century
caption_attribution_description: English: Schubert Impromptu in E flat
context_page_description: In music theory, the circle of fifths is the relationship among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys. More specifically, it is a geometrical representation of relationships among the 12 pitch classes of the chromatic scale in pitch class space.
context_section_description: During the nineteenth century, composers made use of the circle of fifths to enhance the expressive character of their music.  Franz Schubert’s poignant Impromptu in E flat major, D899, contains such a passage:
   
   – as does the Intermezzo movement from Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No.2:
  Robert Schumann’s evocative “Child falling asleep” from his Kinderszenen springs a surprise at the end of the progression: the piece ends on an A minor chord, instead of the expected tonic E minor.
   
  In Wagner’s opera, Götterdämmerung, a cycle of fifths progression occurs in the music which transitions from the end of the prologue into the first scene of Act 1, set in the imposing hall of the wealthy Gibichungs. “Status and reputation are written  all over the motifs assigned to Gunther”, chief of the Gibichung clan:
   
   
  Ravel’s "Pavane for a Dead Infanta", uses the cycle of fifths to evoke Baroque harmony to convey regret and nostalgia for a past era.  The composer described the piece as "an evocation of a pavane that a little princess (infanta) might, in former times, have danced at the Spanish court.":
caption: Schubert Impromptu in E flat
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