C minor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

C minor

Relative key	E♭ major
Parallel key	C major
Component pitches
C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭, C

Also see: C major, or C-sharp minor.

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♮.

Its key signature consists of three flats (see below: Scales and keys).

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.

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

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

Of the two piano concertos that Mozart wrote in a minor key, one of them is in C minor, No. 24, K. 491.

C minor has been associated with heroic struggle since Beethoven's time, with the quintessential work in the key being his Symphony No. 5; see Beethoven and C minor. The fact that Brahms's Symphony No. 1 is in C minor contributed to it being nicknamed "Beethoven's Tenth" (Beethoven's actual unfinished Symphony No. 10 in E flat major may have had a significant central C minor section in the first movement). Three of Anton Bruckner's ten numbered symphonies are in C minor.