# Do you prefer major or minor keys for expressive/tragic beauty?



## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I generally find that I prefer these works in major keys; I think that they express much better the nobility and heroism that comes with suffering. To me, slow minor pieces just sound pessimistic and dull.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Who was it that said Schubert's music is sad when in minor keys and tragic when in major keys? (I think it's true, especially in Winterreise.)


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Doesn't matter - I think it's myth that all most romantic, expressive works are in minor keys. Liszt wrote two piano concertos that are essential for romantic expression and they are both - surprise - in major keys.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

I'll go along with Rachmaninoff.


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## Pieck (Jan 12, 2011)

I've always connected to the minor keys most, although there were some composers that managed to use the major keys and creating an (not sure if it's the right term) autumnish or thoughtful atmosphere that kind of blurred the boundaries between the regular major and minor moods.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I think Major keys are the strongest emotionally if you want to be tragic. Major keys don't stay major anyway throughout the piece, there are always turns to minor. But that's what emphasizes the minor key all the more, the _contrast_. It's even more powerful if it's been staying in a minor key for a long time, but finally resolves back to a major key. Sort of represents a triumph of hope over sorrow.

An overall minor keyed piece with intermittent states of major gives the impression of false hope in the end, which could be interpreted as real tragedy in the pessimistic sense. But I'm more of the hopeful kind of person.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Aramis said:


> Doesn't matter - I think it's myth that all most romantic, expressive works are in minor keys.


I agree. There are so many works in minor keys which are full of happiness. Just a major or minor key is not enough for identifying a piece of music as a positively heroic or an expressively tragic work.


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## PhillipPark (Jun 22, 2011)

I prefer my expressive beauty in neither keys


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Major, minor, modal, atonal...really, tragic beauty isn't contained in the key or whatever, but rather in the way the composer ties it all together and brings us into it, I think.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Pieck said:


> ...there were some composers that managed to use the major keys and creating an (not sure if it's the right term) autumnish or thoughtful atmosphere that kind of blurred the boundaries between the regular major and minor moods.


Yes, late Brahms is often described as "autumnal" and some of his major-key works feel rather sad to me.


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## PhillipPark (Jun 22, 2011)

World Violist said:


> Major, minor, modal, atonal...really, tragic beauty isn't contained in the key or whatever, but rather in the way the composer ties it all together and brings us into it, I think.


I agree, but I think we are just discussing preferences: not the effectiveness of any key setting the particular mood.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

If anything, it is easier to acheive this through a minor but perhaps more rewarding when done in a major...either way if the result is good, it's good...Ludwig Van's g major concerto, for instance...both are great places to explore


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## Pieck (Jan 12, 2011)

Il_Penseroso said:


> I agree. There are so many works in minor keys which are full of happiness.


Can you give some examples?


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Pieck said:


> Can you give some examples?


Of course, from the most popular ones just listen to Bach Badinerie (Orchestral Suite No.2 in B minor) and Brahms Hungarian Dance No.5 !


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Pieck said:


> Can you give some examples?


Klezmer.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Big brass swells in a major key.

Sweeping string laments in a minor key.

I believe the tempo is probably more important than the key in this regard.


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