Relative key E♭ major Dominant key G minor | Parallel key C major Subdominant F minor | |
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C minor (abbreviated c or Cm) is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, and B♭. The harmonic minor raises the B♭ to B♮. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with naturals and accidentals as necessary.
Contents
Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E-flat major, and its parallel major is C major.
Usage
In the Baroque period, music in C minor was usually written with a two-flat key signature, and some modern editions of that repertoire retain that convention.
Of the two piano concertos that Mozart wrote in a minor key, one of them (No. 24, K. 491) is in C minor.
C minor has been associated with heroic struggle since Beethoven's time. Beethoven wrote some of his most characteristic works in the key of C minor, including the Symphony No. 5 and no fewer than three piano sonatas. (See Beethoven and C minor.)
Brahms's first symphony and first string quartet were composed in C minor; these were both genres with which Beethoven was closely associated during Brahms's lifetime.
Three of Anton Bruckner's ten numbered symphonies are in C minor, as are two of Dmitri Shostakovich's symphonies.