# Emotional Character of Different Keys?



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Nigel Tufnel, the legendary guitarist for Spinal Tap, famously stated that D-minor is the "saddest of all keys."

I also recently heard a little blurb on NPR about how the key of B-flat is essentially an optimistic key, one that exudes hope. So after a little internet surfing I found a website siting an old document that seeks to define the emotions associated with each key:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4RmsQ.../some_theory_on_musical_keys.htm/?_nospa=true

*Think of pieces that you enjoy and the keys they are based in. Do you feel like the emotional underpinning of these pieces coincides with this list? Please give your thoughts about the emotion associated with different keys. Or totally disagree with this whole idea. Anyhoo, please weigh in.*

This is from that website:

_C major: Completely pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity, naivety, children's talk

C minor: Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. All languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key

Db major: A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot laugh, but it can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its crying.--Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought out in this key

D major: The key of triumph, of Hallelujahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key

D minor: Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humors brood

D# minor: Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depression, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key

Eb major: The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God

E major: Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight lies in E Major

F major: Complaisance and calm

F minor: Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave

F# major: Triumph over difficulty, free sigh of relief uttered when hurdles are surmounted; echo of a soul which has fiercely struggled and finally conquered lies in all uses of this key

F# minor: A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language

G major: Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by this key

G minor: Discontent, uneasiness, worry about a failed scheme; bad-tempered gnashing of teeth; in a word: resentment and dislike

Ab major: Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius

Ab minor: Grumbler, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament, difficult struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything struggling with difficulty

A major: This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God

A minor: Pious womanliness and tenderness of character

Bb major: Cheerful love, clear conscience, hope aspiration for a better world 
A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide sounds in this key

Bb minor: A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide sounds in this key.

B major: Strongly colored, announcing wild passions, composed from the most glaring colors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every burden of the heart lies in its sphere

B minor: This is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting one's fate and of submission to divine dispensation

From Christian Schubart's Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (1806) translated by Rita Steblin ​_


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Is it just me or do a lot of these descriptions sound pretty similar?


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

If the tuning is equal temperament, there shouldn't be any difference, except of course between minor and major.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Dim7 said:


> If the tuning is equal temperament, there shouldn't be any difference, except of course between minor and major.


No, it's not you I have the same feeling


----------



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Dim7 said:


> If the tuning is equal temperament, there shouldn't be any difference, except of course between minor and major.


Do you think Beethoven's Emperor Concerto in E-flat would feel the same if it were in the key of E major? I personally think you would notice a difference but it would make an interesting experiment.

I guess at the heart of this whole idea is the base assumption that different notes FEEL different. hmmm.....


----------



## Johnhanks (Feb 21, 2016)

20centrfuge said:


> ... Ab major: Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius
> 
> Ab minor: Grumbler, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament, difficult struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything struggling with difficulty
> 
> A major: This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God...


I suspect a lot of what we call key character arises from associations of a given key with specific works or instruments, giving us a chicken-and-egg situation: does the Hallelujah Chorus sound assertive and triumphant because it's in D major, or has D major come to be considered an assertive and triumphant key because we hear it in pieces like the Hallelujah Chorus, trumpet concertos etc?

The way we name keys also affects our assessment of their character. Play a group of people a chord, tell them it's F# major, and they'll describe it as bright, extrovert, confident; a little later, play those same people the same chord but call it G flat major, and they're more likely to tell you it's muted, introverted, other-worldly etc. On the whole sharp keys are described as brighter, flat keys as more shaded.

A final thought: tuning forks dating from baroque times have A pitched closer to what we would now call A flat. Does this mean that for Handel's audiences a piece in A major reminded them of "Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment" etc?


----------



## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

A material point, I think. Or have ears adjusted to what is in effect a relative alteration in tuning values? They must have done if these descriptions have any validity.


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

20centrfuge said:


> Do you think Beethoven's Emperor Concerto in E-flat would feel the same if it were in the key of E major? I personally think you would notice a difference but it would make an interesting experiment.
> 
> I guess at the heart of this whole idea is the base assumption that different notes FEEL different. hmmm.....


Well yes, all the notes would be slightly higher (or alternatively, much much lower), which does make a difference. But it would still be silly to say "E major has this kind of mood, e-flat major this kind of mood etc."


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

My favorite key is A Major. So sunny, warm and optimistic.

Among my favorite examples are Bach's Concerto for Oboe d' Amore; Handel's Concerto Grosso Opus 6, No. 11; Beethoven's 5th String Quartet and Seventh Symphony; Mozart's Symphony No. 29, Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet; Keyboard Concertos 12 and 23 and Bruckner's Sixth Symphony.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

It is clear that pitches have been rising over the last couple of hundred years -- whether by as much as a semitone I don't know. It is also true that there is a tuning variation among contemporary orchestras (the general feeling being that a higher pitch (by a number of cycles per second from the traditional A-440) gives a "brighter" sound.

That said, it is also clear that composers ascribed moods to various keys. Beethoven very definitely had associations with keys -- his "c-minor mood" (fifth symphony. third Quartet, etc.), E-flat major (Eroica, Emperor concerto, Opus 127 quartet), etc. Mozart had a g-minor association,. Both ascribed high drama to d minor (Ninth Symphony, Don G's statue music). Most composers think D major to be bright and sunny. I don't know how much is real, and how much is chicken-and-egg ("such and such pieces are written in Key X, thus Key X evokes that kind of feeling").


----------



## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Kyle Gann has lots of thoughts on this: http://www.kylegann.com/histune.html


----------



## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

Rubbish. Rubbish. Rubbish.


----------



## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

20centrfuge said:


> Do you think Beethoven's Emperor Concerto in E-flat would feel the same if it were in the key of E major? I personally think you would notice a difference but it would make an interesting experiment.
> 
> I guess at the heart of this whole idea is the base assumption that different notes FEEL different. hmmm.....


I think the only reason the concerto would 'feel' different or indeed sound different, is because it affects how each orchestral instrument is played, what position the fingers/lips are in - related to open strings, horn/brass fundamentals.

Different keys having different moods? Untestable, subjective and irrelevant as far as I'm concerned.
Before the advent of equal temperament though, that's another story altogether.


----------



## Dedalus (Jun 27, 2014)

"D minor: Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humors brood"

What??


----------



## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

Dim7 said:


> If the tuning is equal temperament, there shouldn't be any difference, except of course between minor and major.


Actually, not true.

String instrument resonance deeply depends on the key. Sharper keys from C major to E major feel resolute and strong due to the resonance with violin (or viola/cello) open strings, whereas the flatter keys feel more mysterious and introspective due to the lack of strong resonance. The resonant sound color (or lack thereof) makes a huge difference in timbre. Of course, timbre is merely one component of the music and chromatic notes on top of the primary key make a bigger difference for emotion, but "averaging out" this variation leaves one with a distinct timbral effect.


----------



## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

But C Major is always so depressing to me. However, I think this is an excellent thread because it's controversial// because it's purely subjective.


----------



## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

In certain pieces, the key signature is pretty integral in their characteristic sound.

One great example is the Mozart C major quintet. The deep low open C string in the cello that begins the piece provides for a voluminous, deep, broad, and resolute feeling. It would be less effective in D major, and certainly less effective on other keys.


----------



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

20centrfuge said:


> Nigel Tufnel, the legendary guitarist for Spinal Tap, famously stated that D-minor is the "saddest of all keys."


I *HAVE* to clarify that I liked your post simply because of this. Greatest thing ever.

_NIGEL TUFNEL(!):...D minor, which I always find is really the of all keys. And I don't know, but it makes people weep instantly to play it. da daaaah -- daaa duh. That's the horn part...
Marty: It's very pretty.
Nigel: Yeah, just simple lines intertwining, you know, very much like - I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really. It's like a Mach piece, really. It's...
Marty DiBergi: What do you call this?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, this piece is called "Lick My Love Pump"._


----------



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Also, I don't know what keys _evoke_. I find certain pieces, even in the same key, evoke vastly different sentiments for me. But I do have favorite keys -- like, for me, most of my favorite compositions are of the same "key," as it were. I don't know why. But that is another thread!

I do know that movement in keys _within_ the piece is absolutely signifcant, and this being the preeminent, foremost example:









(Edit: I apologize for the vagueness.)


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Beethoven was a great believer in the specific "characters" of different key signatures, though we know his views only from scattered comments and the sometimes obvious evidence of his music. But he was a very imaginative guy sometimes.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

20centrfuge said:


> Db major: A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot laugh, but it can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its crying.--Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought out in this key


Leering? 

Well, I guess it's an _alright _description. There is a kind of grief behind the notes. Think of Dvorak's Symphony 9 Largo, or Grieg's Piano Concerto second movement. This key has been chosen often by the great composers for deep emotions, bittersweetness. Feelings of romance, of love. Love is a happiness that is often intertwined with sorrow, and sometimes there can be no distinction between happiness and sorrow in this state.

Otherwise, I'm really curious where the writer got all those ideas from. They _must _have been thinking of specific pieces in mind for example, and not just the actual keys. I have to say that I really don't know what their theory is, the context for their answers.

I have a theory for why keys can be different from each other, even majors from other majors and minors from other minors. It has to do with potential/kinetic energy and physical limitations of the keys. C major is the "purest" because it is literally the cleanest: it can fluidly modulate to other relatively easy keys with our Western practice of instruments (G major, F major, D major, A minor to name a few, all with easy key signatures), perform virtuosic technique, and be able to add harmonic variety to itself with black keys (accidentals) all the while having a place to go back to that is stable. This key is easy for many instruments, though ironically hard for piano, because pianists like some black keys to grip onto.

But F sharp major? What keys can it modulate to? B major? C sharp major? These are complicated to read and perform in Western practice. This key has difficult _moving _out of itself. Thus composers would utilize this tension by setting it in simplistic style (either slow, or just harmonically simple), or outright avoid it. Think of Chopin's F sharp major "Black Key" etude. Is that harmonically complex, moving about in every direction? Not really. And I know some other piano works in F sharp major that are otherwise slow and lyrical. Even composers know better not to venture into double-sharp or double-flat territory too often with performers. Yes, this key, not aurally, but in every _other _manner has distinguished itself by exertion of the body and mind, and so we listeners who may have perfect pitch or sensitivities to keys have grown to have this association as well.

Another example: B minor. What does it modulate to? F sharp minor/major, E minor, D major. The fact that its dominant is a 6 sharp key signature (and in light of what I said in the previous paragraph), this key is also stable to the point of being stuck in a rut. It can't move except haltingly. Think Chopin's B minor Funeral March. He goes back and forth between B minor and E minor chords much of the time, one of the most fluid motions of the key for pianists. When it moves to D major temporarily, that is a very small distance it traveled harmonically, and D major is more fluid to go back to its relative minor than B minor is able to move to its own dominant key. Thus, from performance practice and what composers have done with B minor over the centuries, this key has associations of stolidness, and furthermore depression, because_ one simply can't leave._ Beethoven called it the "Black key." Stuck in the dark.


----------



## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

20centrfuge said:


> Nigel Tufnel, the legendary guitarist for Spinal Tap, famously stated that D-minor is the "saddest of all keys."
> 
> I also recently heard a little blurb on NPR about how the key of B-flat is essentially an optimistic key, one that exudes hope. So after a little internet surfing I found a website siting an old document that seeks to define the emotions associated with each key:
> 
> ...


I knew I had seen this before on this site... thanks for posting it again. Here is the original thread it was mentioned in..

http://www.talkclassical.com/27559-what-does-your-favorite-2.html?highlight=different+keys


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Another example: B minor. What does it modulate to? F sharp minor/major, E minor, D major. The fact that its dominant is a 6 sharp key signature (and in light of what I said in the previous paragraph), this key is also stable to the point of being stuck in a rut. It can't move except haltingly. *Think Chopin's B minor Funeral March.* He goes back and forth between B minor and E minor chords much of the time, one of the most fluid motions of the key for pianists. When it moves to D major temporarily, that is a very small distance it traveled harmonically, and D major is more fluid to go back to its relative minor than B minor is able to move to its own dominant key. Thus, from performance practice and what composers have done with B minor over the centuries, this key has associations of stolidness, and furthermore depression, because_ one simply can't leave._ Beethoven called it the "Black key." Stuck in the dark.


You mean the B-*flat* minor one?


----------



## Harold in Columbia (Jan 10, 2016)

Wikipedia said:


> In his autobiographical Recollections, Sergei Rachmaninoff recorded a conversation he had had with Scriabin and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov about Scriabin's association of colour and music. Rachmaninoff was surprised to find that Rimsky-Korsakov agreed with Scriabin on associations of musical keys with colors; himself skeptical, Rachmaninoff made the obvious objection that the two composers did not always agree on the colours involved. Both maintained that the key of D major was golden-brown; but Scriabin linked E-flat major with red-purple, while Rimsky-Korsakov favored blue. However, Rimsky-Korsakov protested that a passage in Rachmaninoff's opera The Miserly Knight accorded with their claim: the scene in which the Old Baron opens treasure chests to reveal gold and jewels glittering in torchlight is written in D major. Scriabin told Rachmaninoff that "your intuition has unconsciously followed the laws whose very existence you have tried to deny."


(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Scriabin)

This should maybe be taken seriously, as being of a piece with the Russian avant-garde's (by which I mean Rimsky as well as Scriabin, but not Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov) interest in the color of particular chords, or particular instruments, or particular combinations of particular instruments, or particular chords played in a particular register by particular instruments or combinations of particular instruments - which of course was an important part of Stravinsky's art, and by extension Boulez's by way of Messiaen's.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Mahlerian said:


> You mean the B-*flat* minor one?


 I thought it was B minor. O well. Probably can't use that example for B minor then. I think B flat minor is also a cumbersome key too, but it modulate to easier keys, like F major. B flat minor is good key for pianists, but not for strings or winds.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

20centrfuge said:


> Do you think Beethoven's Emperor Concerto in E-flat would feel the same if it were in the key of E major? I personally think you would notice a difference but it would make an interesting experiment.
> 
> I guess at the heart of this whole idea is the base assumption that different notes FEEL different. hmmm.....


No. It wouldn't. Same as the Eroica wouldn't be as terrific in E Major. E Flat Major is the "heroic" key. Simple as that.
Also if you are writing a horn concerto, keep it in E Flat Major.


----------



## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

I hear no difference in the character of the different keys. In Well Temperament there was a difference because the intervals were all slightly out of tune but in different ways for each key. There is a reason that you don't see much baroque or classic music in keys like F# major or minor or Ab major or minor and it's not just because the brass instruments were tuned in D. They just didn't sound as good as keys like D or C or E, Eb. Remember also that most music from that period was accompanied by a keyboard that kept the other instrumentalists playing the temperament that was on the keyboard. 

Equal Temperament became more popular in the classic period as composers expanded into the more distant keys and the piano became the keyboard of choice. The timbre of the piano and it's greater dynamic expressiveness fit equal temperament better than well temperament and the other temperaments being used. Just for fun try playing a Mozart piano sonata on a harpsichord and then play the Hammerklavier on a Harpsichord. The reason for the change becomes very apparent.


----------



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

SeptimalTritone said:


> Actually, not true.
> 
> String instrument resonance deeply depends on the key. Sharper keys from C major to E major feel resolute and strong due to the resonance with violin (or viola/cello) open strings, whereas the flatter keys feel more mysterious and introspective due to the lack of strong resonance. The resonant sound color (or lack thereof) makes a huge difference in timbre. Of course, timbre is merely one component of the music and chromatic notes on top of the primary key make a bigger difference for emotion, but "averaging out" this variation leaves one with a distinct timbral effect.


Then you are saying that the effect of a key has nothing to do with its absolute pitch, or internal differences of the tuning, but only with string tension and resonance. That has nothing to do with the actual key itself, and everything to do with the instrument resonance. 
I don't think that this is what the OP is asking; he's asking the differences between the different keys as pitches. Can keys be separated from their physical manifestation? apparently most people here think so.

But, as Stirling said: rubbish.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The whole idea must date back to pre-equal-temperament days. Before equal temperament, different keys had different characters because their intervals were different. That doesn't imply that they had the specific sorts of emotional qualities suggested, but it does lend some plausibility to the idea that different keys were capable of different qualities of expression.

Before pitch became more-or-less standardized at A=440, music was played at a range of pitches. If composers thought that different keys had different characters, they must surely have known that a piece written with a certain key-character in mind would have a different key-character when played at a different pitch in another city. How can we say that the "Eroica" is "heroic" because it's in Eb, since Eb has meant a lot of different pitches in the last 200 years? 

A piece of music, transposed to a different key, will have a different "feel." But does that mean it will take on certain specific emotional qualities supposed to belong to the new key? 

Music modulates from key to key, and harmonic progressions may be understood as being in more than one key, or no key at all. Do we understand such music as partaking of the supposed emotional characteristics of each key it traverses or suggests? Or does it show that the matter is more complex - too complex for theories of simple correspondence?

I conclude that in equal temperament, keys have no definite emotional character as such, but can be heard as having such qualities in relation to particular pieces of music written in them.


----------



## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

hpowders said:


> No. It wouldn't. Same as the Eroica wouldn't be as terrific in E Major. E Flat Major is the "heroic" key. Simple as that.
> Also if you are writing a horn concerto, keep it in E Flat Major.


Heroic music, or more correctly music which conveys heroism, can be written in any key at all. I assure you!
Simple as that! 
A horn player may benefit more from being asked to play in Eb over E but that would be merely technical- depending on the horn and the horn player!


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Petwhac said:


> Heroic music, or more correctly music which conveys heroism, can be written in any key at all. I assure you!


No no no, heroic music MUST be in E-flat. I mean, do you _really _want to start an argument with Beethoven? :lol:


----------



## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

KenOC said:


> No no no, heroic music MUST be in E-flat. I mean, do you _really _want to start an argument with Beethoven? :lol:


Why don't you ask _him_? He started it with his Napoleon nonsense and then had a hissy fit! :lol:


----------



## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

Well...

The harp quartet is angelic and sensitive. The first of the late quartets is sprightly, contemplative, and witty. The Les Audiex sonata is shadowy and clever (although it's for piano rather than strings and has intense chromatics/minor key).

Actually, "averaging out" the pieces in E flat of Beethoven does not even give heroic. The only thing one can really say is that the reduced resonance of violins or other strings brings out less of a bold strength. The Eroica and Emporer would be a lot bolder and masculine in D major, and I would bet that Beethoven chose E flat major to alleviate that feeling of strong, bold resonance which might have been too much.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

SeptimalTritone said:


> Well...
> 
> The harp quartet is angelic and sensitive. The first of the late quartets is sprightly, contemplative, and witty. The Les Audiex sonata is shadowy and clever (although it's for piano rather than strings and has intense chromatics/minor key).
> 
> Actually, "averaging out" the pieces in E flat of Beethoven does not even give heroic. The only thing one can really say is that the reduced resonance of violins or other strings brings out less of a bold strength. The Eroica and Emporer would be a lot bolder and masculine in D major, and I would bet that Beethoven chose E flat major to alleviate that feeling of strong, bold resonance which might have been too much.


Yeah, I can just imagine Beethoven thinking, "I've got to alleviate that feeling of strong, bold resonance. Wouldn't want to appear too masculine, after all."


----------



## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

No, no. Beethoven may have felt Eb to be an heroic key, Mozart may have favoured C minor for tragedy and who knows what the hell Scriabin was thinking. It's still all just subjective poppy-cock!
Otherwise show me evidence.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Beethoven don't need no steenkin' evidence.


----------



## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

KenOC said:


> Beethoven don't need no steenkin' evidence.


Beethoven don't need nuffin no more!

It is I who require evidence!


----------



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

For what it's worth, according to my chromatic tuner, I consistently speak in G#/A_b_. Consistently, as in like, 80% of the time I check in to see where I am sitting at for the day, it gives me G#, and then bounces between F# and A, depending on my mood.

Occasionally I move into B_b_, but rarely.

So, overall, I think I am in the key of A_b_, or F minor, which is also Peter Grimes key, for what that is worth. I find that to be pretty special, but as well, that could portend very, very dastardly things.


----------



## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

I'm confused as to how anyone would be able to glean emotional qualities out of specific keys if they don't have something like perfect pitch. Imagine transposing Lacrimosa (Mozart) up a key and playing it randomly for musicians; someone with perfect pitch might think "wow, it sounds so powerful in e flat minor!" While someone without it probably won't know anything's changed. 
But it's all subjective, so I don't entirely agree with everything on the list. Since when does A flat major remind anyone of death and putrefaction? Does the Brahms waltz really sound like that?


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Found this about Beethoven's thoughts on key signatures: "There are in fact only two direct attributions that can be made to him on this topic: the first a letter to George Thomson where he describes A-flat Major as "barbaresco" (barbarous) and, by implication, B-flat Major as "amoroso"; the second a note scribbled on a sketch for his Cello Sonata in D Major, Opus 102, no. 2 where he describes B minor as a "schwarze Tonart" -- a black or dark key."

In fact Beethoven wrote in A-flat major several times, generally quite ingratiating music and never "barbarous."


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

KenOC said:


> Found this about Beethoven's thoughts on key signatures: "There are in fact only two direct attributions that can be made to him on this topic: the first a letter to George Thomson where he describes A-flat Major as "barbaresco" (barbarous) and, by implication, B-flat Major as "amoroso"; the second a note scribbled on a sketch for his Cello Sonata in D Major, Opus 102, no. 2 where he describes B minor as a "schwarze Tonart" -- a black or dark key."
> 
> In fact Beethoven wrote in A-flat major several times, generally quite ingratiating music and never "barbarous."


Unsurprisingly, B minor shows up incidentally in a number of his works, too (the Hammerklavier, Ninth Symphony, and Wellington's Victory all come to mind).


----------



## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

It is true that many composers, especially in early time (e.x. classical era) prefer to use some keys more than others for some reasons. And some of their works with same key tend to express silimar feelings. But I think the direct link between key areas and moods is somehow blurry. As the concert pitch itself varied substantially during the past, I can not say a group of pitches reflects a certain mood better than others.


----------

