E minor


E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp, on the F. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.
The E natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The E harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
Much of the classical guitar repertoire is in E minor, as this is a very natural key for the instrument. In standard tuning, four of the instrument's six open strings are part of the tonic chord. The key of E minor is also popular in heavy metal music, as its tonic is the lowest note on a standard-tuned guitar.

Scale degree chords

The scale degree chords of E minor are:
  • Tonic – E minor
  • Supertonic – F-sharp diminished
  • Mediant – G major
  • Subdominant – A minor
  • Dominant – B minor
  • Submediant – C major
  • Subtonic – D major

    Notable compositions

  • Charles-Valentin Alkan
  • * Le festin d'Ésope, Op. 39, No. 12, from 12 etudes in all the minor keys
  • Johann Sebastian Bach
  • *Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548
  • * English Suite No. 5, BWV 810
  • * Partita for keyboard in E minor, BWV 830
  • * Suite in E minor for solo lute, BWV 996
  • *Bourrée in E minor, BWV 996
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
  • * String Quartet No. 8
  • * Piano Sonata No. 27
  • Johannes Brahms
  • *Symphony No. 4
  • *Cello Sonata No. 1
  • *Fantasies, Op. 116
  • *Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119
  • Frédéric Chopin
  • *Nocturne in E minor
  • *Piano Concerto No. 1
  • *Waltz in E minor
  • *Étude Op. 25, No. 5 "Wrong Note"
  • *Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 "Suffocation"
  • Franz Danzi
  • *Horn Sonata Op. 44
  • Gaetano Donizetti
  • *String Quartet No. 18
  • Antonín Dvořák
  • *Symphony No. 9
  • *Piano Trio Op. 90
  • *String Quartet No. 4
  • *Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 46
  • *Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 72
  • Edward Elgar
  • *Cello Concerto
  • *Sea Pictures
  • *Serenade for Strings
  • *String Quartet
  • *Violin Sonata
  • Louise Farrenc
  • *Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 45
  • Edvard Grieg
  • *Piano Sonata
  • George Frideric Handel
  • *Messiah
  • Joseph Haydn
  • *Symphony No. 44
  • Ignaz Holzbauer
  • *Flute Concerto in E minor
  • Margaret Ruthven Lang
  • *Rhapsody in E minor, Op. 24
  • Feliks Janiewicz
  • *Violin concerto No. 5
  • Karol Lipiński
  • *Violin Concerto No. 3, Op. 24
  • Franz Liszt
  • *Malédiction, S. 121
  • Felix Mendelssohn
  • *Preludes and Fugues, Op. 35
  • *Violin Concerto
  • * String Symphony No. 3 in E minor, MWV N 3
  • * String Quartet in E minor, Op. 44
  • *Fugue in E minor, MWV W24
  • *Albumblatt, Op. 117
  • Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart
  • *Rondo for Flute and Piano
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • *Violin Sonata No. 21
  • * Die Alte, K. 517
  • Pietro Nardini
  • *Sonata No. 6 for two violins and bass
  • Niccolò Paganini
  • *Caprice No. 3
  • *Caprice No. 15
  • Sergei Prokofiev
  • *Montagues and Capulets
  • Ferdinand Ries
  • *Violin Concerto, Op. 24
  • Franz Schubert
  • *Piano Sonata in E minor, D. 566
  • *Piano Sonata in E minor, D. 769A
  • *Fugue in E minor for four hands, D. 952
  • Dmitri Shostakovich
  • *Piano Trio No. 2
  • *Symphony No. 10
  • Jean Sibelius
  • *Symphony No. 1, Op. 39
  • Bedřich Smetana
  • * Die Moldau
  • * String Quartet No. 1
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff
  • *Moments musicaux, Op. 16, No. 4
  • *Symphony No. 2
  • *Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
  • Maurice Ravel
  • *Le tombeau de Couperin
  • Franz Xaver Richter
  • *Flute Concerto in E minor
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
  • *Scheherazade
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • *Symphony No. 5
  • Carl Maria von Weber
  • *Horn Concertino
  • *Piano Sonata No. 4 in E minor, Op. 70
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams
  • *Symphony No. 6
  • *Symphony No. 9
  • Giuseppe Verdi
  • *String Quartet
  • Antonio Vivaldi
  • *Violin Concerto, Op. 11/2 RV 277