# pieces that end in a different key from where they began



## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

I am trying to find pieces of classical music, preferably good pieces by good composers, that end in a different key (with different tonal center) from which they begin. Beginning and ending in different modes doesn't count - so for example I would not count Beethoven's 9th symphony, which begins in d minor and ends in D major.

Moussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" has an introduction of 30 seconds or so, then stops, then the same thing is repeated in a slightly higher key, and I think the piece ends in that key (sorry I don't know enough to be more specific).

Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" begins in C major. I think it's pretty clear that it ends in B major. I have read that it ends in two keys, C major and B major, but I disagree with that description. The end of the piece alternates between high winds playing a B major chord, and double basses playing C-G-C pizzicatti, while low brass play, if I'm not mistaken, low C, possibly E, possibly, G, and _definitely_ f-sharp. I do not have perfect pitch, and the piece is quite long, and when I listen to it, I don't even notice that it ends in a different key from which it begins.

I'm pretty sure I used to play a Schubert piano piece that began and ended in different keys. It may have been a movement from a sonata. If this really did occur in a middle movement of a Schubert sonata, it is not really an example of what I'm asking for but it seems to me this is pretty rare.

If anyone who know more than me can fill in any missing info above, I'd appreciate it.


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Several Mahler symphonies could be described as such... No. 4, No. 5, No. 9, etc. There is some room for debate: the first movement of No. 1, for example, is basically in D major but could be argued to begin in A minor, in which case it would also qualify.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Eschbeg said:


> Several Mahler symphonies could be described as such... No. 4, No. 5, No. 9, etc. There is some room for debate: the first movement of No. 1, for example, is basically in D major but could be argued to begin in A minor, in which case it would also qualify.


Also No. 7, which opens in B minor. The first movement ends in E major, the last movement in C major. And don't forget 2! The first movement opens in C minor, the last movement ends in E-flat major.

I'm not too familiar with his work, but Nielsen was also an advocate of "progressive tonality".


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Verdi's _Te Deum_ for Choir and Orchestra is unusually bizarre in its key changes. It never rests anywhere for too long, I think there are 7-8 key changes (aside from other kinds of modulations), and it certainly doesn't end in the same key as it starts.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Almost all of Carl Nielsen's mjor work end in different keys from the opening movenment , and even many of the opening movements do also . This is often called "progressive tonality . 
Nielsen's 1st symphony begins in G minor but with a C mjor chord ,and the lst movement ends in C major .
The first movement of the 3rd(Sinfonia Espansiva ,begins in D minor but ends in a major, its own dominant , which is quite unusual . The 4th or Inextunguishable , begins in no discernable key ,a
sort of polytonal free for all , and the finle ends in e major . 
The two movement 5th goes through rising tonal centers of F, c, and G, and the second begins in B major, progressing to an F minor fugue and then a slow one in F major, returning to the beginning B major, and ultimately ending in E flat major, which had never appeared before ! 
It may sound chaotic in print , but when you hear it, it makes perfect structural sense .
Nielsen developed his own unique method of creating works which are not rooted to one key at all .


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

Thanks to you all, I had no idea this occurred so often.

I would include Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto. It supposedly starts in B-flat minor. The way I hear it, there are a few measures by the horns suggesting B-flat minor, but then it immediately modulates to d-flat major, with the crashing piano chords, so I think it "really" starts in d-flat major. Users of this forum have informed me that the first movement actually does end in B-flat (major or minor, I don't remember which).


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