List of major/minor compositions

Major/minor compositions are musical compositions that begin in a major key and end in a minor key (generally the parallel minor), specifying the keynote (as C major/minor). This is a very unusual form in tonal music,[1][2] although examples became more common in the nineteenth century.[3] There are far fewer major/minor compositions than minor/major ones[4] (the latter category of which includes, but is not limited to, all minor-key works that end with a Picardy third, as well as many Classical- and Romantic-period symphonies, concertos, sonatas and chamber works, and individual movements thereof.)

"Major/minor" redirects here. For the 2011 album by the American rock band Thrice, see Major/Minor (album). For information on major/minor tonality, see Major and minor. For music written in all major and/or minor keys, see Music written in all major and/or minor keys.

The major/minor compositions in the following lists do not necessarily end with a minor chord; a final passage in minor ending with a sonority that fails to re-establish the major mode (for example, an open octave or fifth) is sufficient.

Works falling into the following categories are excluded:

  • Compositions that would be major/minor but for a final Picardy third stipulated by the composer, such as Bach's Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40 or Francis Poulenc's Vinea mea electa from Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence (FP 97);
  • Compositions that would be major/minor, but end inconclusively on the major dominant of the final minor key, e.g. Nos. 2 and 9 of Robert Schumann's Kerner cycle, Op. 35.
  • Compositions in which the beginning only hints at a possible reading of a major key without really establishing it, such as the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, Haydn's two string quartets, Op. 33 No. 1 and Op. 64 No. 2, C. P. E. Bach's Piano Sonata, Wq. 55/3, or the first movement of Alkan's Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges' (all of which are in B minor, but start with the possibility of D major);
  • Compositions in which the opening major chord merely serves a function (e.g. dominant or Neapolitan) in the ensuing minor key, without being tonicized in its own right, such as Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre or Chopin's first Ballade;
  • Compositions that are only incidentally major/minor due to being unfinished, without any indication that the composer intended them to be major/minor, such as Schubert's Piano Sonata in C, D. 840 or Haydn's String Quartet in D minor, Op. 103;
  • Frequently performed portions of a larger work consisting of what is technically two separate movements, if the first of these finishes clearly on the tonic (and thus doesn't require continuation), such as the opening pair of movements in Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 109 (connected by an attacca);
  • Entire extended works as song cycles, ballets, operas and oratorios that finish in a different tonic than the starting one, unless the two keys carry clear extramusical or programmatic connotions within the work (an explanation of which must accompany any such listings below).

Major/minor compositions retaining the keynote

Single works and miniatures
  • Alkan – Chant d'amour - chant de mort, Op. 35 No. 10 (G♭-f♯)[5]
  • Alkan – Esquisse, Op. 63 No. 7 "Le frisson" (F♯)[6]
  • Alkan – Prière Op. 64 No. 10 (B♭)
  • Allen – Girl of the Orient (F)
  • Bax – The Devil that Tempted St. Anthony (F)
  • Brahms – Jägerlied, Op. 66/4 (C)
  • Brahms – Rhapsody Op. 119 No. 4 in E♭[7]
  • Busoni – Sonatina No. 6 in A, BV 284
  • Campra – Cari Zephiri volate (A)
  • Campra – Quis ego Domine (A)
  • Catoire – Prelude Op. 17 No. 4 (B♭)[8]
  • Cavallini – Caprice for clarinet Op. 4 No. 4 (E)
  • Chopin – Nocturne Op. 32 No. 1 in B[9][10] (final chord sometimes changed to major)
  • Coste – Le Départ, Op. 31 (E)
  • Couperin - Le Dodo, ou l'amour au Berçeau, from Pieces de Clavecin (A) [11]
  • de Curtis – Torna a Surriento (E) (only if the chorus is used as an instrumental introduction, as done in the widely-performed arrangement by Giancarlo Chiaramello)
  • Fibich – Malířské Studie (Studies on Painters), No. 2, Spor Masopustu s Postem (The Fight Between Carnival and Lent) in C
  • Franck – Fantaisie in A, from Trois Pièces for organ (1878) (A)
  • Fuchs – Andante grazio and Capriccio Op. 63 (A)
  • Graener – Theodor-Storm-Musik Op.93 (A)
  • Harris – Symphony No. 3 (G)
  • Heidrich – Variations on "Happy Birthday" (C)
  • Heinrich – The President's Funeral March (E)
  • Kuhlau – Introduction and Variations for flute and piano Op. 99 (A)
  • Lalo – Fantaisie norvégienne in A
  • Lecuona – La 32, No. 6 of Siete Danzas Cubanas Tipicas (G♭-f♯)
  • Levy – Tango Brasileiro (A) (reverse Picardy third)
  • MacDowell – Witch, Op. 38 No. 4 (F)
  • Mendelssohn – Andante Cantabile e Presto Agitato in B[12]
  • Mendelssohn – Capriccio brillante for piano and orchestra in B, Op. 22 [13]
  • Mendelssohn – Capriccio in E, Op. 118 (1837) [12]
  • Mendelssohn – Capriccio, MWV U 43 (E♭)
  • Mendelssohn – Characteristic Piece Op. 7 No. 7 in E (reverse Picardy third)[14]
  • Mendelssohn – Rondo Capriccioso in E, Op. 14[12][15]
  • de Momigny – La Nouvelle Valentine (A)
  • Moniuszko – Magda Karczmarka, No. 20 from Śpiewnik domowy Vol. 2 (B♭)
  • Moniuszko – Do Niemna, No. 4 from Śpiewnik domowy Vol. 6 (E)
  • Mozart – Violin Sonata in A, K. 402/385e (completed by Maximilian Stadler; the work has only one movement)
  • Poulenc – Nocturne, FP 56 No. 6 (G)
  • Poulenc – Amoureuses, FP 77 No. 5 (F)
  • Praeger – Rhapsody No. 2 in F
  • Purcell – Awake, ye dead, Z. 182 (C)
  • Purcell – The earth trembled, Z. 197 (A)[16]
  • Purcell – Love arms himself in Celia's eyes, Z. 392 (C)[17]
  • Purcell – Oh! fair Cedaria, Z. 402 (C) (some performances add a Picardy third)
  • Purcell – This poet sings the Trojan wars (Anacreon's defeat), Z. 423 (C)
  • Rachmaninoff – K Djétjam (To the Children), Op. 26 No. 7, from "Fifteen Romances" of Op.26 (F)
  • Reicha – L'Art de Varier, Op. 57 (F)[18]
  • Reicha – Fugue, Op. 36 No. 32 (E♭)
  • Rheinberger – Toccata Op. 12 (G)
  • Satie – Gymnopédie No. 1 (D)[19]
  • A. Scarlatti – Se Florindo e fedele (A♭) (ends on an open octave in an A♭ minor context)
  • D. Scarlatti – Keyboard Sonata K. 63 (L. 84) in G ("Capriccio") (ending sometimes changed to major)
  • D. Scarlatti – Keyboard Sonata K. 107 (L. 474) in F[20][21]
  • D. Scarlatti – Keyboard Sonata K. 140 (L. 107) in D[22]: 165 
  • D. Scarlatti – Keyboard Sonata K. 182 (L. 139) in A
  • D. Scarlatti – Keyboard Sonata K. 206 (L. 257) in E[23]
  • D. Scarlatti – Keyboard Sonata K. 297 (L.S. 19) in F[22]: 166 
  • Scriabin – Mazurka in F (1889)
  • Schubert – Impromptu Op. 90 No. 2 in E♭[24]
  • Schubert – Moment Musical No. 6 in A♭ (ends on an open octave in an A♭ minor context)[25]
  • Schubert – Am Bach im Frühling, D. 361 (D♭-c♯)
  • Schubert – An den Mond, D. 468 (A)
  • Schubert – Tränenregen (No. 10 of Die Schöne Müllerin) (A)[26]
  • Schubert – Die böse Farbe (No. 17 of Die Schöne Müllerin) (B)[27]
  • Schubert – Lied eines Kriegers, D. 822 (A)
  • Schubert – Frühlingstraum (No. 11 of Winterreise) (A)[28]
  • C. Schumann – Romance, op. 5 no. 3 (B)[29]
  • C. Schumann or Friedrich Wieck – Der Wanderer in der Sägemühle (C)
  • R. Schumann – No. 17 of Davidsbündlertänze, Opus 6 (B)[30]
  • R. Schumann – Der Handschuh, Op. 87 (D)
  • Sibelius – Impromptu, Opus 5 No. 6 in E
  • Sibelius – Valse triste, op. 44 no. 1 (G)
  • Soler – Keyboard Sonata R. 6 in F
  • Strauss – Don Juan, Op. 20 (E)[31]
  • Tchaikovsky – To Forget So Soon, TH 94 (F)[32]
  • Tchaikovsky – Valse-Scherzo Op. 7 in A
  • Voříšek – Fantasia for piano, Op. 12 (C)

Movements from larger works

Works in several movements

Major/minor works changing the keynote
  • Albéniz – Córdoba, No. 4 of Cantos de España, Opus 232 (F-d)
  • Alkan – Prière, Op. 66 No. 7 (C-a)
  • Bernstein – Chichester Psalms (B♭-g)
  • Berlioz – Requiem (Grande Messe des Morts), Op. 5, viii, Hostias (G-b♭)
  • Bizet – Symphony in C major, ii (F-a)
  • Claude Bolling – Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio (G-c)
  • Brahms – Du mein einzig Licht, WoO 33 No. 37 (A-f♯)
  • Brahms – Vom Strande, Op. 69 No. 6 (F-a)
  • Chausson – Poème de l'amour et de la mer (G-d)
  • Chausson – Poème de l'amour et de la mer, ii (actually the third movement, counting an unnumbered interlude) (E-d)
  • Chopin – Ballade No. 2 (F-a)
  • Couperin – Ordre 25ème de clavecin (E♭-c)
  • Debussy – Suite bergamasque (F-f♯)
  • Dvořák – The Noon Witch (C-a)
  • Enescu – Cantabile e Presto for flute and piano, 1904 (E♭-g)
  • Enescu – Nocturne e Saltarello for cello and piano, 1897 (F-a)
  • Finzi – Childhood Among the Ferns (E♭-b♭)
  • Fuchs – Serenade in D Op. 9, ii (B♭-g)
  • Godowsky – "Paradoxical Moods", No. 3 from Triakontameron (E-c♯)
  • Handel – Belshazzar, Chorus of Babylonians: "Ye tutelar gods of our empire, look down" (G-e)
  • Handel – Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 1 (B♭-g)
  • Handel – Suite for Harpsichord No. 2 in F, HWV 427, i (F-a)
  • Haydn – Arianna a Naxos, Hob. XXVIb:2 (E♭-f)
  • Miriam Hyde – "Marsh Birds" for Flute and Piano (D-b)
  • Lalo – Rapsodie norvégienne (A-d)
  • Massenet – Piano Concerto (E♭-c)
  • Mozart – Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Aria, "Solche Hergelauf'ne Laffen" (F-a) (though the aria is interrupted by spoken dialogue after the full cadence in F major, before continuing in A minor at a new tempo)
  • Mozart (completed by Süssmayr) – Requiem, VII. Communio (B♭-d) (ends on an open fifth in a D minor context)
  • Mozart – Preludes K. 284a/395, iii (B♭-c)
  • Mozart – Preludes and Fugues K. 404, v (E♭-c)
  • Mozart – Modulating Prelude, K. deest (F-e)
  • Mussorgsky (completed by Stravinsky) – Khovanshchina (E-g♯)
    • The key scheme in the opera is constructed mostly on a sharp-flat principle; thus the opening, reaching G♯ major, is the sharpest music in the whole opera, and many portentions or descriptions of disaster in the opera are written in six or seven flats or even beyond. Mussorgsky intended an ending in A♭ minor for the final scene, in which the Old Believers commit mass suicide; this was respected by Stravinsky in his completion, although written enharmonically for easier reading. Other completions do not respect this: Rimsky-Korsakov ends in A♭ major, Shostakovich in F major. Valery Gergiev's productions, though using Shostakovich's completion, cut the final bars and end with an orchestral restatement of the Old Believers' final chorus (as written by Rimsky-Korsakov and reorchestrated by Shostakovich) in G♯ minor, thus following the original key scheme.
  • Rudolf Peterka – Piano Trio Op. 6 (D-b)
  • Poulenc – Piano Sextet, ii (D♭-a♭)
  • Poulenc – Suite Francaise FP 80, ii (F-d)
  • Poulenc – Trio pour piano hautbois et basson, ii (B♭-f)
  • Poulenc – Gloria FP 177, i (G-b)
  • Poulenc – Oboe Sonata FP 185, (G-a♭)
  • Rheinberger – Piano Sonata Op. 47 (C-a)
  • Satie – Gnossiennes Nos. 5 (G-e) and 6 (F-c)
  • Schoenberg – Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38, ii (G-e♭)
  • Schubert – Die Nonne, D. 212 (A♭-f)
  • Schubert – Grablied, D. 218 (A♭-f)
  • Schubert – Erster Verlust, D. 226 (A♭-f)
  • Schubert – Piano Sonata, D. 279 (C-a)
    • However, some authorities consider this to be an unfinished work; two incomplete C-major movements (D. 346 and D. 309A) have been put forward as candidates for the missing finale, both of which would make this cease to be major/minor.
  • Schubert – Deutscher Tanz, D. 365 No. 22 (Op. 9 No. 22) (B-g♯)
  • Schubert – Ritter Toggenburg, D. 397 (F-b♭)
  • Schubert – Der Herbstabend, D. 405 (A♭-f)
  • Schubert – Klage an den Mond, D. 436 (F-d)[60]
  • Schubert – Edone, D. 445 (E♭-c)
  • Schubert – Liedesend, D. 473 (E♭-e, both versions)
  • Schubert – Didone Abbandonata, D. 510 (E♭-f)
  • Schubert – Auf der Donau, D. 553 (Op. 21 No. 1) (E♭-f♯)[61]
  • Schubert – Der Pilgrim, D. 794 (Op. 37 No. 1) (D-b, originally E-c♯)
  • Schumann – Réplique, No. 8 of Carnaval (B♭-g)[62]
  • Schumann – No. 16 of Davidsbündlertänze (G-b)
  • Schumann – Kreisleriana, No. 4 (B♭-d) (first edition only)
  • Smetana – The Bartered Bride, Aria, "Kdybych se co takového" (B♭-g)
  • W.G. Still – Symphony No. 3 (A-c)
  • Tchaikovsky – The Sleeping Beauty – Finale and Apotheosis (D-g)
  • Tchaikovsky – Six Pieces Op. 21, No. 1 "Prelude" (B-g♯)
  • Vaughan Williams – Three Shakespeare Songs, "The Cloud Capp'd Towers" (D-f) (reverse Picardy third)

See also

References
  1. Merrick, Paul. "The Role of Tonality in the Swiss Book of Annees de Pelerinage". Studia Musicologica Academie Scientierum Hungericae, T. 39, Fasc. 2/4 (1998), p. 371
  2. Fuller Maitland, John Alexander (1911). Brahms. New York: John Lane Company. p. 100.
  3. Cone, Edward T. and Robert P. Morgan. "Beyond Analysis". Music. A View from Delft. Selected Essays (University of Chicago Press: Chicago 1989), p. 74.
  4. Trio Solisti – Program Notes 2014 by Miriam Villchur Berg
  5. The Alkan Society, Bulletin 32: April 1987
  6. Alkan: Esquisses Op 63 – Hyperion Records
  7. Hindson, Maurice. Brahms – The Shorter Piano Works. Alfred Music Publishing Co. (1992), p. 10.
  8. Catoire: Piano Music - CDH55425 - Georgy Catoire (1861-1926) - Hyperion Records - MP3s and Lossless downloads
  9. Huneker, James. Chopin: The Man and His Music, Courier Corporation (1960), p. 146.
  10. Frédéric Chopin's Nocturnes, Part I, 2015 – ClassicalConnect.com
  11. http://cnks.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/4/46/IMSLP99159-PMLP200270-Couperin_-_Pieces_de_clavecin_Bk3.pdf
  12. Waltons Music: Mendelssohn Rondo Cappricioso in E major, Op. 14 (Piano)
  13. "CHAN 2025: An Introduction to Felix Mendelssohn" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  14. Todd, R. Larry. "Piano Music Reformed: Mendelssohn". Nineteenth-Century Piano Music, ed. Todd, R. Larry, Routledge (2004), p. 191.
  15. Du Bose, Joseph. Rondo capriccioso, in E Major, Op. 14 Yakov Flier.
  16. Purcell, Harmonia Sacra, Rosemary Joshua – eClassical
  17. Hyperion Records – Love arms himself in Celia's eyes, Z392
  18. International Piano Quarterly Volumes 5–6, Gramophone Publications (2001), p. 44.
  19. Satie – Gymnopedie No. 1 | Classical Piano Pieces
  20. Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas – Warner Classics Archived 3 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, p. 7.
  21. Kirkpatrick, Ralph. "Anatomy of the Scarlatti Sonata". Domenico Scarlatti: Revised Edition (Princeton University Press, 1983), p. 274.
  22. Marshall, Robert. "Domenico Scarlatti". Eighteenth-Century Keyboard Music, Routledge (2004).
  23. Sutcliffe, W. Dean. The Keyboard Sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti and Eighteenth-Century Musical Style, Cambridge University Press (2008), p. 355.
  24. BBC Music Magazine: Schubert Moments Musicaux D780
  25. Franz Peter Schubert – Moments Musicaux, D. 780
  26. Wollenberg, Susan. Schubert's Fingerprints: Studies in the Instrumental Works, Ashgate Publishing Ltd (2011), p. 24.
  27. Damschroder, David. Harmony in Schubert, Cambridge University Press (2010), p. 104.
  28. Howell, Cory. Schubert's Winterreise Song Cycle, p. 10.
  29. Cooper, Imogen. Chandos – Imogen Cooper – CHAN 10841 Archived 16 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  30. Hatten, Robert. Performing Expressive Closure in Structurally Open Contexts: Chopin’s Prelude in A minor and the Last Two Dances of Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze
  31. BBC – Proms – Programme note Strauss – Don Juan
  32. Osborne, Charles. The Concert Song Companion: A Guide to the Classical Repertoire, A Da Capo (1985).
  33. Wigmore, Richard. Beethoven: The Complete Music for Piano Trio, The Florestan Trio – Hyperion Records
  34. Spitzer, Michael. Music as Philosophy: Adorno and Beethoven's Late Style, Indiana University Press (2006), p. 136.
  35. Kerman, Joseph. "Beethoven's Minority". Write All These Down: Essays on Music, University of California Press (1994), p. 220.
  36. Chausson, E.: Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet / Piano Trio (Meadowmount Trio, Wihan String Quartet) – Naxos
  37. Hicks, Anthony. "Late Additions to Handel's Oratorios". Music in Eighteenth-Century England: Essays in Memory of Charles Cudworth, ed. Hogwood, Christopher and Richard Luckett, Cambridge University Press (1983), p. 150.
  38. Kreuger, Stephen. Handel's Messiah Untold
  39. Deruchie, Andrew. The French Symphony at the Fin de Siècle: Style, Culture, and the Symphonic Tradition, Boydell & Brewer (2013), pp. 114–15.
  40. Bitzan, Wendelin. "A Milestone of Symbolist Music: A Multi-Perspective Examination of Nikolai Medtner's Sonata-Ballade, Op. 27". Nikolai Medtner's Early Piano Sonatas: Analytic Studies on their Genesis, Style, and Compositional Technique, (Berlin University of the Arts, Faculty of Music, 2016), p. 41
  41. This movement was originally intended to be a stand-alone "Ballade".
  42. Wilson, Conrad. Notes on Mendelssohn: 20 Crucial Works, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (2005), p. 30.
  43. Todd, R. Larry. "Wanderlust". Mendelssohn Studies, Cambridge University Press (2006), p. 225.
  44. Redwood Symphony Program Notes: Sibelius, Symphony No. 4
  45. Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 (Tchaikovsky) – from CDH55322 – Hyperion Records
  46. Vivaldi: Concertos for Strings – Naxos
  47. Classical Net Review – Weinberg – String Quartet #4 & 16
  48. Prevot, Dominique. "Rare works for Piano". Ludwig van Beethoven's website.
  49. "Piano Sonata in D, Biamonti 213 (1792-93?)". The Unheard Beethoven, Inc.
  50. Donat, Misha. Hyperion Records: Trio for piano, violin and cello in B major, op. 8
  51. Hepokoski and Darcy. "The Three- and Four-Movement Sonata Cycle". Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford University Press, 2006). p. 336.
  52. Robertson, David. Sydney Symphony Orchestra – 2015 Season Archived 21 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  53. Fuchs: Piano Sonatas Op. 19 and Op. 88 – Naxos; or just see score @ IMSLP.
  54. see score @ IMSLP
  55. Amazon.com: George Frideric Handel, Concerto Grossi
  56. Hummel: Piano Trios / Piano Quartet in G major / Cello Sonata – Naxos; see also IMSLP
  57. Gíslason, Donald G. Vancouver Recital Society: Program Notes – Emanuel Ax
  58. Jones, Evan Allan. Intimate Voices: Shostakovich to the Avant-Garde. Dmitri Shostakovich: The String Quartets (University of Rochester Press: Rochester 2009), p. 8.
  59. Bell, John. Fejes Quartet: Sunday 8 June 2014 at 7:30pm – Music Nairn
  60. Puchi, Richard Navarrete. Performance and Analysis of Lieder.
  61. Platt, Heather. Schubert's Poets and the Making of Lieder. – Free Online Library
  62. Wadsworth, Benjamin K. MTO 18.4: Wadsworth, Directional Tonality in Schumann's Early Works
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