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

Relative key	B-flat major
Parallel key	G major
Dominant key	D minor
Subdominant key	C minor
Component pitches
G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, F

The G natural minor scale is:

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:

Scale degree chords

The scale degree chords of G minor are:

• Tonic – G minor
• Supertonic – A diminished
• Mediant – B-flat major
• Subdominant – C minor
• Dominant – D minor
• Submediant – E-flat major
• Subtonic – F major

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

• Arcangelo Corelli
  • Christmas Concerto
• Henry Purcell
  • "Dido's Lament" from Dido and Aeneas
• Antonio Vivaldi
  • Violin Concerto, Op. 4/6, RV 316a
  • Violin Concerto, Op. 6/1, RV 324
  • Violin Concerto, Op. 6/3, RV 318
  • Violin Concerto, Op. 7/3, RV 326
  • Violin Concerto "Summer" from "The four seasons", Op. 8/2, RV 315
  • Violin Concerto, Op. 8/8, RV 332
  • Flute Concerto La Notte, Op. 10/2, RV 439
  • Oboe Concerto, Op. 11/6, RV 460
• Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Fantasia for flute solo No. 12
  • Fantasia for viola da gamba solo No. 7
• Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001
  • Great Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 542
  • "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578
  • English Suite No. 3, BWV 808
• Joseph Haydn
  • Stabat Mater
  • Symphony No. 39
  • Symphony No. 83 "The Hen"
  • String Quartet No. 26, Op. 20, No. 3
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Symphony No. 25
  • Symphony No. 40
  • String Quintet No. 4
  • Piano Quartet No. 1
  • Six Variations on "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant"
• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 5, No. 2
  • Piano Sonata No. 19, Op. 49/1
• Franz Schubert
  • Stabat Mater, D 175
  • String Quartet No. 9, D 173
  • Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. posth. 137/3, D 408
• Carl Maria von Weber
  • Trio for Piano, Flute and Cello, Op. 63
• Felix Mendelssohn
  • Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 25
  • String Symphony No. 12
• Frédéric Chopin
  • Piano Trio, Op. 8
  • Ballade No. 1, Op. 23
  • Nocturne, Op. 37, No. 1
  • Prelude "Impatience", Op. 28, No. 22
  • Cello Sonata, Op. 65
  • Polonaise in G minor, Op. posth.
• Charles-Valentin Alkan
  • Scherzo diabolico, Op. 39, No. 3
  • Esquisses, Op. 63, No. 6 "Les cloches"; No. 26 "Petit air, Genre ancien"
• Franz Liszt
  • Transcendental Étude No. 6 "Vision"
• Robert Schumann
  • Symphony in G minor ("Zwickau")
  • Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 22
  • Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 110
• Clara Schumann
  • Piano Trio, Op. 17
• Bedřich Smetana
  • Piano Trio, Op. 15
• Johannes Brahms
  • Piano Quartet No. 1, Op. 25
  • Rhapsody, Op. 79/2
  • Capriccio, Op. 116/3
  • Ballade, Op. 118/3
  • Hungarian Dance No. 5 (orchestral version)
• Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 22
  • Danse macabre, Op. 40
• Max Bruch
  • Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 26
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No. 1, Op. 13
• Antonín Dvořák
  • Piano Concerto, Op. 33
  • Slavonic Dance No. 8
  • Rondo for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 94
  • Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 26
  • Bagatelles, Op. 47
• Edvard Grieg
  • Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song, Op. 24
• Gabriel Fauré
  • Sicilienne, Op. 78
• Claude Debussy
  • String Quartet, Op. 10
• Isaac Albéniz
  • Cataluña, Op. 47, No. 2
• Mykola Leontovych
  • Shchedryk
• Gustav Holst
  • Mars, the bringer of war, from the orchestral suite The Planets
• Ralph Vaughan Williams
  • Mass in G minor
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
  • Piano Concerto No. 4
  • Prelude in G minor
  • Cello Sonata
• Sergei Prokofiev
  • Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16
• Dmitri Shostakovich
  • Symphony No. 11 The year 1905, Op. 103
  • Piano Quintet, Op. 57

See also

• Key (music)
• Major and minor