B minor

B minor
{ \magnifyStaff #3/2 \omit Score.TimeSignature \key b \minor s16 \clef F \key b \minor s^"" }
Relative keyD major
Parallel keyB major
Dominant keyF-sharp minor
SubdominantE minor
Component pitches
B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, A

B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major.

The B natural minor scale is:

{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c' { \key b \minor \time 7/4 b^"B natural minor scale" cis d e fis g a b a g fis e d cis b2 \clef F \key b \minor } }

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The B harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:

{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c' { \key b \minor \time 7/4 b^"B harmonic minor scale" cis d e fis g ais b ais g fis e d cis b2 } }
{ \omit Score.TimeSignature \relative c' { \key b \minor \time 7/4 b^"B melodic minor scale (ascending and descending)" cis d e fis gis ais b a? g? fis e d cis b2 } }

Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739–1791) regarded B minor as a key expressing a quiet acceptance of fate and very gentle complaint, something commentators find to be in line with Bach's use of the key in his St John Passion.[1] By the end of the Baroque era, however, conventional academic views of B minor had shifted: Composer-theorist Francesco Galeazzi (1758–1819)[2] opined that B minor was not suitable for music in good taste. Beethoven labelled a B-minor melodic idea in one of his sketchbooks as a "black key".[3]

  1. ^ Tusa 1993, pp. 2–3, n. 5.
  2. ^ Galeazzi 1817, p. [page needed].
  3. ^ Tusa 1993, p. 2, n. 3.