B-flat minor


B-flat minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has five flats. Its relative major is D-flat major and its parallel major is B-flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent, A-sharp minor, which would contain seven sharps, is not normally used.
The B-flat natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The B-flat harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:

Scale degree chords

The scale degree chords of B-flat minor are:
B-flat minor is traditionally a 'dark' key.
The old valveless horn was barely capable of playing in B-flat minor: the only example found in 18th-century music is a modulation that occurs in the first minuet of Franz Krommer's Concertino in D major, Op. 80.

Notable classical compositions

  • Charles-Valentin Alkan
  • * Prelude Op. 31, No. 12
  • * Symphony for Solo Piano, 3rd movement: Menuet
  • Samuel Barber
  • *Adagio for Strings
  • Frédéric Chopin
  • *Piano Sonata No. 2 "Funeral March"
  • *Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1
  • *Scherzo No. 2
  • *Prelude Op. 28, No. 16 "Hades"
  • *Mazurka Op. 24, No. 4
  • Franz Liszt
  • *Transcendental Étude No. 12 from Transcendental Études
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff
  • *Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36
  • Dmitri Shostakovich
  • *Symphony No. 13, Op. 113
  • *String Quartet No. 13, Op. 138
  • Richard Strauss
  • *An Alpine Symphony begins and ends in B-flat minor.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • *Piano Concerto No. 1
  • *Marche slave
  • William Walton
  • *Symphony No. 1