Relative key | E♭ major | |
---|---|---|
Parallel key | C major | |
Dominant key | ||
Subdominant | ||
Notes in this scale | ||
C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭, C |
C minor is a minor scale based on C. Its pitches are C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭, and C. Its key signature has three flats. Its harmonic minor raises the B♭ to B♮. When written in jazz notation, its short form is Cm.
Its relative major is E-flat major, and its parallel major is C major.
In the Baroque period, music in C minor was usually written with a two-flat key signature. When this music is printed today, sometimes it is still printed in the same way.
C minor has had the meaning of heroic struggle from Beethoven's time and the composer wrote many of his most emotional, dramatic works in this key. This has also been done by many others, following Beethoven's style.
These are just a few of the well-known works to be written in C minor:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The table shows the number of sharps or flats in each scale. Minor scales are written in lower case. |