# Composers You Associate With Keys



## An Die Freude (Apr 23, 2011)

Says it all in the title really, what keys do you associate with certain composers?

For me it would be:

Beethoven - C Minor
Tchaikovsky - B Flat/B Minor
Bach - D Minor
Mendelssohn/Dvorak - E Minor
Mozart - G Minor
Haydn - G/D Major


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I don't really associate any composers with any keys; not even my dear Brahms!

For some irrational reason, E Minor is my favourite key, but they're all the same really


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Beethoven - C minor/E flat major
Haydn - E flat major
Mozart - C major/G minor/D major
Handel - D major
Schoenberg - D minor
Wagner - E minor/E flat minor 
Mendelssohn - E minor
Brahms - A major/G major
Richard Strauss - B flat major


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Boulez - C major


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Spontaneously...

Schumann - A minor
Beethoven - C minor
Mozart - C Major
Bach - D Major
Prokofiev - D minor
Wagner - E flat Major
Handel - E Major
Brahms - E minor
Stravinsky - F sharp Major
R. Strauss - E flat Major
Ligeti - F Major
Bartok - A Major
Mendelssohn - E minor
Vaughan Williams - D Major
D. Scarlatti - D minor
Messiaen - C sharp Major
Schubert - B flat Major

I've noticed that a lot of the connections above are more related to a piece by the composer that comes to my mind first than the composer as a whole, for example Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Beethoven's C minor Sonatas and the 5th Symphony, Mozart's Jupiter (which naturally, I was just listening to) and 21st Piano Concerto, two of Scarlatti's d minor sonatas that I enjoy very much, and Bach's Mass in B minor (much of which is in D major) as well as two glorious Prelude and Fugues from the WTC. Not necessarily my favorite works by these composers (some are), but it's undeniable that they do in fact have a major effect on what key "constitutes" that composer in my mind.

Sometimes there is no relation of that sort, and these cases are even harder to understand. Most of Bartok's music doesn't have a consistent key, yet I settled on A major for some reason. It probably has to do with how bright his music is generally, and that bold C sharp in the middle just "feels" right in terms of highlighting his modernism. With Vaughan Williams the D major I mentioned is more like a Dsus, likely affected by the Lark Ascending and the 5th symphony. Stravinsky and Messiaen have this "on the edge" feeling that can probably be describe by the two keys I've assigned them. The F Sharp - C Sharp Major Petrouchka chord must have had an influence as well. Strangely enough, I feel that Prokofiev's "dice and spice" dissonance fits very well in the context of a bitter D minor - though I'm starting to wonder if this too is not influenced by some of my favorite works of his such as the 2nd Symphony and the Toccata.

Speaking as a pianist, I often feel that individual keys have a special "feeling" to them that are greatly influenced by the figuration and sensations that the piano as an instrument offers me. For example, C Major without accidentals is very bright and perfect. F sharp Major and C sharp Major are very edgy because of how many sharps they have. And a key like B flat major would be very spontaneous and meandering because of how awkward it is to play as a scale. So hence, Mozart to C major, Stravinsky to F sharp major, and Schubert to B flat major. I'm sure musicians of other sorts experience this as well.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Polednice said:


> I don't really associate any composers with any keys; not even my dear Brahms!
> 
> For some irrational reason, E Minor is my favourite key, but they're all the same really


Does your favorite symphony happen to be Brahms 4th? 

It's interesting though, that's about his only major work that's written in E minor, yet E minor is the key I associate with Brahms. So basically - I must really, really love the 4th symphony then.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Air said:


> Does your favorite symphony happen to be Brahms 4th?
> 
> It's interesting though, that's about his only major work that's written in E minor, yet E minor is the key I associate with Brahms. So basically - I must really, really love the 4th symphony then.


When I tried to think of Brahms, E minor immediately came to mind too, but then I looked at the wiki list of compositions and kept thinking: "Oh yeah, that piece is in _that_ key..."


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Prokofiev - C major
Dvorak - 1 sharp (either E minor, or G major)
Shostakovich - D minor, A major
Glazunov - D flat major
Wagner - E flat major


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Grieg - A minor


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

Chopin: C sharp minor and A flat major - or any other sharp or flat minor or major, really


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Polednice said:


> For some irrational reason, E Minor is my favourite key, but they're all the same really


E minor: the guitarists favourite.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Argus said:


> E minor: the guitarists favourite.


Hahahha! Yes, that definitely suits me..


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Cage: ... major


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Argus said:


> E minor: the guitarists favourite.


I think the key of A minor arguably trumps E minor for guitarists...its close. In the early days of metal most heavier music was in E minor, but ever since the '90's 'dropped' D and C minor have overtaken E minor's popularity.


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

Dukas - E flat minor


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Mozart I'd associate more with D-minor than G-minor. The _Requiem_, _Don Giovanni_, _20th piano concerto _trump the two G-minor symphonies and the great string quintet in G-minor.

But his minor key works are in _D-minority_ :lol: , so it would have to be a major key for Mozart, and most likely C-major... :tiphat:


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