D-flat minor
D-flat minor is a musical key based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Because its key signature has eight flats, requiring one double flat and six single flats, the enharmonically equivalent key of C-sharp minor is normally used instead. Its relative major is F-flat major, which is usually replaced by E major. Its parallel major is D-flat major.
The D-flat natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The D-flat harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
D-flat minor is usually notated as the enharmonic key of C-sharp minor, as in the second and third measures of Amy Beach's Canticle of the Sun. However, unusually, two of Verdi's most well-known operas, La traviata and Rigoletto, both end in D-flat minor. Mahler's thematic motif "der kleine Appell" from his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies uses both notations: in his Symphony No. 4 it is in D-flat minor, but in his Symphony No. 5 it is in C-sharp minor. In the Adagio of his Symphony No. 9, a solo bassoon interpolation following the main theme appears first in D-flat minor, returning twice more notated in C-sharp minor. Likewise, in the Adagio of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8, phrases that are tonally in D-flat minor are notated as C-sharp minor.
D-flat minor is shown in Max Reger's theory text On the Theory of Modulation.
Scale degree chords
The scale-degree chords of D-flat minor are:- Tonic – D-flat minor
- Supertonic – E-flat diminished
- Mediant – F-flat major
- Subdominant – G-flat minor
- Dominant – A-flat minor
- Submediant – B-double-flat major
- Subtonic – C-flat major