A minor

A minor (abbreviated Am) is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G♯. Its key signature has no flats or sharps (see below: Scales and keys).

Its relative major is C major, and its parallel major is A major.

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

Johann Joachim Quantz considered A minor, along with C minor, much more suitable for expressing "the sad affect" than other minor keys (Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen).

Whereas traditionally key signatures were cancelled whenever the new key signature had fewer sharps or flats than the old key signature, in modern popular and commercial music, cancellation is only done when C major or A minor replaces another key.^[1]

Well-known classical compositions in this key

• Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV1041 – Johann Sebastian Bach
• Violin Sonata No. 4, Op. 23 – Ludwig van Beethoven
• String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132 – Beethoven
• Bagatelle in A minor "Für Elise" – Beethoven
• Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35 – Johannes Brahms
• Prelude No. 2 in A minor, Op. 28/2 – Frédéric Chopin
• Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 – Edvard Grieg
• Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 85 - Johann Nepomuk Hummel
• Symphony No. 6 in A minor - Gustav Mahler
• Piano Sonata in A minor, K. 310 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Caprice No. 24 (Paganini) – Niccolò Paganini
• Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini – Sergei Rachmaninoff
• Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 – Robert Schumann
• Symphony No. 4 – Jean Sibelius
• Oboe Concerto in A minor – Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102 - Johannes Brahms

See also: List of symphonies in A minor

References

1. ^ Matthew Nicholl & Richard Grudzinski, Music Notation: Preparing Scores and Parts, ed. Jonathan Feist. Boston: Berklee Press (2007): 56. "In popular and commercial music, the old key signature is cancelled only if the new key is C major or A minor."

Scales and keys