C minor

C minor is a minor scale based on C. Its pitches are C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has three flats.
Its harmonic minor raises the B to B. When written in jazz notation, its short form is Cm.

Its relative major is E-flat major, and its parallel major is C major.

Use in classical music
In the Baroque period, music in C minor was usually written with a two-flat key signature. When this music is printed today, sometimes it is still printed in the same way.

C minor has had the meaning of heroic struggle from Beethoven's time and the composer wrote many of his most emotional, dramatic works in this key. This has also been done by many others, following Beethoven's style.

These are just a few of the well-known works to be written in C minor:
 Cello Suite No. 5 BWV 1011: VI. Gigue - Johann Sebastian Bach
 Great Mass in C minor (Mozart) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 Piano Concerto No. 24 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 Piano Concerto No. 3 - Ludwig van Beethoven
 Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven), op. 67 (1804-8)
 “Choral Fantasy” in C minor, op. 80 (1808), Beethoven
 Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor (Pathétique) - Ludwig van Beethoven
 Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven) - Ludwig van Beethoven
 Symphony No. 2 (Tchaikovsky) “Little Russian” in C minor, op. 17 (1872)
 Symphony No. 8 - Anton Bruckner
 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor - Sergei Rachmaninov
 Étude Op. 10, No. 12 - Fryderyk Chopin
 Prélude No. 20, Op. 28 - Fryderyk Chopin
 Nocturne in C minor Op. 48, No.1 - Fryderyk Chopin
 Symphony No. 4 - Dmitri Shostakovich
 Symphony No. 8 - Dmitri Shostakovich
 Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor - Bach
 Symphony No. 2 - Gustav Mahler

Scales and keys

Related pages
 List of symphonies in C minor

References

Category:Musical keys
Category:Minor scales