C minor

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C minor
Image:E-flat_Major_key_signature.png
Relative key E♭ major
Parallel key C major
Component pitches
C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭, C

C minor (abbreviated Cm) is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E-flat, F, G, A-flat, B-flat (often raised to B natural to function as a leading tone) and C. Its key signature consists of three flats.

Image:E-flat Major key signature.png

In the Baroque period, music in C minor was usually written with a two-flat key signature, and some modern editions of that repertoire keep it that way.

Its relative key is E-flat major, and its parallel major is C major.

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

Of the two piano concertos that Mozart wrote in a minor key, one of them is in C minor, No. 24, K. 491.

C minor has been associated with heroic struggle since Beethoven's time, with the quintessential work in the key being his Symphony No. 5; see Beethoven and C minor. The fact that Brahms's Symphony No. 1 is in C minor contributed to it being nicknamed "Beethoven's Tenth" (the actual Beethoven Tenth may have had a significant central C minor section in the first movement). Three of Anton Bruckner's ten numbered symphonies are in C minor.

[edit] Well-known classical compositions in this key

[edit] Well-known contemporary music in this key

Diatonic Scales and Keys
Circle of fifths
Flats Sharps
Major minor Major minor
0 C (Major), a (minor)
1 F d G e
2 B♭ g D b
3 E♭ c A f♯
4 A♭ f E c♯
5 D♭ b♭ B g♯
6 G♭ e♭ F♯ d♯
7 C♭ a♭ C♯ a♯
lower case letters are minor

the table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale
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