G minor

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

G minor
{ \new Staff \with{ \magnifyStaff #3/2 } << \time 2/16 \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f { \clef treble \key g \minor s16 \clef bass \key g \minor s16 } >> }
Relative keyB-flat major
Parallel keyG major
Dominant keyD minor
SubdominantC minor
Component pitches
G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, F


The G natural minor scale is:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key g \minor \time 7/4 g4^\markup "G natural minor scale" a bes c d es f g f es d c bes a g \clef bass \key g \minor } }

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:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key g \minor \time 7/4 g4^\markup "G harmonic minor scale" a bes c d es fis g fis es d c bes a g } }
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key g \minor \time 7/4 g4^\markup "G melodic minor scale (ascending and descending)" a bes c d e fis g f! es! d c bes a g } }

Scale Degree Chords

Mozart's use of G minor
Main article: Mozart and G minor

G minor has been considered the key through which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart best expressed sadness and tragedy,[1] 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♭ alto.[2] 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♭, for the slow movement, with other examples including Joseph Haydn's No. 39 and Johann Baptist Wanhal's G minor symphony from before 1771.[3]

Notable works in G minor
See also: List of symphonies in G minor

See also

References
  1. Hellmut Federhofer, foreword to the Bärenreiter Urtext edition of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. "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.")
  2. 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.
  3. James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford University Press: 2006) p. 328
  • Media related to G minor at Wikimedia Commons
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