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G minor

{{Short description|Minor key and scale based on the note G}}

{{Infobox musical scale

| name = G minor
{ \magnifyStaff #3/2 \omit Score.TimeSignature \key g \minor s16 \clef F \key g \minor s^"" }

| relative = B-flat major

| dominant = D minor

| subdominant = C minor

| parallel = G major

| first_pitch = G

| second_pitch = A

| third_pitch = B{{music|flat}}

| fourth_pitch = C

| fifth_pitch = D

| sixth_pitch = E{{music|flat}}

| seventh_pitch = F

}}

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

The G natural minor scale is:

{{block indent|

\header { tagline = ##f }

scale = \relative f' { \key g \minor \omit Score.TimeSignature

g^"G natural minor scale" a bes c d es f g f es d c bes a g2 \clef F \key g \minor }

\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 G harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:

{{block indent|

\header { tagline = ##f }

scale = \relative f' { \key g \minor \omit Score.TimeSignature

g^"G harmonic minor scale" a bes c d es fis g fis es d c bes a g2 }

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

}}

{{block indent|

\header { tagline = ##f }

scale = \relative f' { \key g \minor \omit Score.TimeSignature

g^"G melodic minor scale (ascending and descending)" a bes c d e fis g f! es! d c bes a g2 }

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

}}

Scale degree chords

The scale degree chords of G minor are:

Mozart's use of G minor

{{main|Mozart and G minor}}

G minor has been considered the key through which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart best expressed sadness and tragedy,Hellmut Federhofer, foreword to the Bärenreiter Urtext edition of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. "{{Lang|de|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.") and many of his minor key works are in G minor, such as Piano Quartet No. 1 and String Quintet No. 4. 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{{music|flat}} alto.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. Another convention of G minor symphonies observed in Mozart's No. 25 and Mozart's No. 40 was the choice of E-flat major, the subdominant of the relative major B{{music|flat}}, for the slow movement, with other examples including Joseph Haydn's No. 39 and Johann Baptist Wanhal's G minor symphony from before 1771.James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford University Press: 2006) p. 328

Notable works in G minor

{{See also|List of symphonies in G minor}}

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See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{Commons category-inline|G minor}}

{{Circle of fifths}}

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Category:Musical keys

Category:Minor scales