List of major/minor compositions

For information on major/minor tonality, see Tonality and Major and minor.
For the 2011 album by the American rock band Thrice, see Major/Minor (album).

Major/minor compositions are musical compositions that begin in a major key and end in a minor key (generally the parallel minor), specifying the keynote (as C major/minor). This is a very unusual form in tonal music, but its opposite (minor/major) is a musical platitude, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 being perhaps the most notable example. This probably stems from the use of the tierce de picardie used in Medieval and Elizabethan music.

Following are lists of major/minor works (not always called as such). Works in these lists do not necessarily end with a minor chord; several end with a tonally ambiguous open octave or fifth following a passage in a minor key.

Contents

Major/minor works retaining the same keynote

Single works and miniatures

Movements from larger works

Multi-movement works

Controversial examples

Major/minor works changing the keynote

See also