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E-flat major

{{Short description|Major scale based on E-flat}}

{{Infobox musical scale

| name=E-flat major
{ \magnifyStaff #3/2 \omit Score.TimeSignature \key es \major s16 \clef F \key es \major s^"" }

| relative=C minor

| parallel=E-flat minor

| dominant=B-flat major

| subdominant=A-flat major

| first_pitch=E{{music|flat}}

| second_pitch=F

| third_pitch=G

| fourth_pitch=A{{music|flat}}

| fifth_pitch=B{{music|flat}}

| sixth_pitch=C

| seventh_pitch=D

}}

E-flat major is a major scale based on E♭ (musical note), consisting of the pitches E{{music|flat}}, F, G, A♭ (musical note), B♭ (musical note), C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E-flat minor, (or enharmonically D-sharp minor).

The E-flat major scale is:

{{block indent|

\header { tagline = ##f }

scale = \relative b { \key es \major \omit Score.TimeSignature

es^"E♭ natural major scale" f g as bes c d es d c bes as g f es2 \clef F \key es \major }

\score { { << \cadenzaOn \scale \context NoteNames \scale >> } \layout { } \midi { } }

}}

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The E-flat harmonic major and melodic major scales are:

{{block indent|

\header { tagline = ##f }

scale = \relative b { \key es \major \omit Score.TimeSignature

es^"E♭ harmonic major scale" f g as bes ces d es d ces bes as g f es2 \clef F \key es \major }

\score { { << \cadenzaOn \scale \context NoteNames \scale >> } \layout { } \midi { } }

}}

{{block indent|

\header { tagline = ##f }

scale = \relative b { \key es \major \omit Score.TimeSignature

es^"E♭ melodic major scale (ascending and descending)" f g as bes c d es des ces bes as g f es2 \clef F \key es \major }

\score { { << \cadenzaOn \scale \context NoteNames \scale >> } \layout { } \midi { } }

}}

Scale degree chords

The scale degree chords of E-flat major are:

Characteristics

The key of E-flat major is often associated with bold, heroic music, in part because of Beethoven's usage. His Eroica Symphony, Emperor Concerto and Grand Sonata are all in this key. Beethoven's (hypothetical) 10th Symphony is also in E-flat. But even before Beethoven, Francesco Galeazzi identified E-flat major as "a heroic key, extremely majestic, grave and serious: in all these features it is superior to that of C."Francesco Galeazzi, Elementi teorico-practici di musica (1796) as translated to English in Rita Steblin, A History of Key Characteristics in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. University of Rochester Press (1996): 111

Three of Mozart's completed Horn Concertos and Joseph Haydn's Trumpet Concerto are in E-flat major, and so is Anton Bruckner's Fourth Symphony with its prominent horn theme in the first movement. Another notable heroic piece in the key of E-flat major is Richard Strauss's A Hero's Life. The heroic theme from the Jupiter movement of Holst's The Planets is in E-flat major. Mahler's vast and heroic Eighth Symphony is in E-flat and his Second Symphony also ends in this key.

However, in the Classical period, E-flat major was not limited to solely bombastic brass music. "E-flat was the key Haydn chose most often for [string] quartets, ten times in all, and in every other case he wrote the slow movement in the dominant, B-flat major."Paul Griffiths, The String Quartet. New York: Thames & Hudson (1983): 29 Or "when composing church music and operatic music in E-flat major, [Joseph] Haydn often substituted cors anglais for oboes in this period", and also in Symphony No. 22.David Wyn Jones, "The Symphonies of Haydn" in A Guide to the Symphony, ed. Robert Layton. Oxford: Oxford University Press

E-flat major was the second-flattest key Mozart used in his music. For him, E-flat major was associated with Freemasonry; "E-flat evoked stateliness and an almost religious character."Robert Harris, What to Listen for in Mozart. Simon & Schuster (2002): 174

Edward Elgar wrote his Variation IX "Nimrod" from the Enigma Variations in E-flat major. Its strong, yet vulnerable character has led the piece to become a staple at funerals, especially in Great Britain.

Shostakovich used the E-flat major scale to sarcastically evoke military glory in his Symphony No. 9.{{Cite book|title=Shostakovich: A Life|last=Fay|first=Laurel|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|isbn=0-19-513438-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/shostakovichlife00fayl}}

Well-known compositions in this key

{{See also|List of symphonies in E-flat major}}

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Notes

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External links

  • {{Commons category-inline|E-flat major}}

{{Circle of fifths}}

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Category:Musical keys

Category:Major scales