Key signatures with five or more sharps or flats

A moment ago, I enjoyed listening to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Marche slave, Op. 31 (the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan) on my laptop. The piece is usually known by its French title; in English it might well be called Slavonic March in B-flat minor.

The key of B-flat minor has five flats. Someone who is just beginning to learn to read music may well find keys containing lots of sharps or flats rather daunting. I think I am correct in saying that the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart himself did not write a single work in a key with more than four sharps or flats.

The major keys with five or more sharps/flats are B major, D-flat major, F-sharp major and G-flat major. The keys of C-sharp major and C-flat major are also theoretically possible, but are extremely rarely (if ever) used in practice. For example, Frédéric Chopin’s Fantaisie-impromptu, which is in C-sharp minor, has a middle section that ought to be in the tonic major – except that it is in D-flat major instead. The four sharps of the minor key are cancelled and replaced not by seven sharps but by five flats for the major key.

The minor keys with five or more sharps/flats are G-sharp minor, B-flat minor, D-sharp minor and E-flat minor. Again there are also A-sharp minor and A-flat minor, which exist in theory but are almost never used.

One will be able to listen to the Prelude and Fugue in B major, BWV 892 (№ 23 in Book II of The Well-tempered Clavier) tomorrow.

A little dance? (6,5)

Answer: MINUTE WALTZ.

The Valse du petit chien – better known in English as the “Minute Waltz” – Op. 64 № 1, is also in D-flat major.

Camille Bourniquel, one of Chopin’s biographers, reminds the reader that Chopin got the inspiration for this waltz as he was watching a small dog chase its tail, which prompted the composer to name the piece Valse du petit chien, meaning “The Little Dog Waltz”.

Wikipedia.

Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in D major, Op. 76 № 5 (Hob. III:79), to which I have just enjoyed listening (performed by the Kuijken String Quartet) on my laptop, has a slow movement in F-sharp major!

A moment ago, I enjoyed listening to Haydn’s String Quartet in F major, Op. 77 № 2 (Hob. III:82), played by the Quatuor Mosaïques, on my laptop – one of his mature quartets, in which the minuet & trio movement precedes the slow one. The minuet is the home key – but the trio is in D-flat major! Although I cannot distinguish absolute pitch by ear, I knew there was something interesting afoot when I heard a bridge passage linking the end of the trio to the minuet reprise – something Haydn also used in his Symphonies № 99 and № 104, in which the trio is in a key somewhat remote from that of the minuet. So I looked up the score at IMSLP – et voilà.

Antonín Dvořák’s Nocturne in B major for string orchestra, Op. 40, was played a moment ago in “Through the Night” with John Shea, Jan Stanienda conducting the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

I have just enjoyed listening in “Through the Night” with Catriona Young to Dmitri Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes, Op. 34 (Igor Levit on piano). Of these, № 11 is in B major, № 12 is in G-sharp minor, № 13 is in F-sharp major, № 14 is in E-flat minor, № 15 is in D-flat major, and № 16 is in B-flat minor.

At the moment, one can hear Beethoven’s Piano Concerto № 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 (Louis Schwitzgebel on piano with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Ben Gernon) in “Afternoon Concert” with Kate Molleson. Although the main key is E flat, the slow movement is in B major.

Nikolai Lugansky played Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Moment Musical № 6 in C major in “Essential Classics” with Suzy Klein a moment ago. This is the last piece of the work entitled Six moments musicaux, Op. 16 – of which the first piece is in B-flat minor, the second in E-flat minor, and the fifth in D-flat major. I would have loved to listen to the whole work, not just one movement from it.

Daniele is now conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in Johannes Brahms’s Symphony № 2 in D major, Op. 73, the concert being broadcast live from the Royal Festival Hall in “Radio 3 in Concert” with Martin Handley. The slow movement of this work is in B major.

A moment ago, I listened to Liszt’s Transcendental Études on FirstPublicChannel’s YouTube video – all twelve of them, played by Claudio Arrau on piano. The last two pieces are in D-flat major and B-flat minor respectively.

A moment ago, I listened to Rachmaninoff’s Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3, on Sergei Rachmaninoff Music’s YouTube video – five pieces, played by Vladimir Ashkenazy on piano. The first and last pieces are in E-flat minor and B-flat minor respectively.

A moment ago, I enjoyed listening to Dvořák’s Scherzo capriccioso, Op. 66 (the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Mariss Jansons) in “Breakfast” with Georgia Mann. This charming work is in the key of D-flat major.

The opening of that slow movement has the most charming of simplicities to it. It consists of two phrases, played principally by the first violins. Both phrases end with the note E flat. But whereas the first one is on an imperfect cadence, the second is on a perfect cadence, the music having modulated to E-flat major! Simple things like this captivate me no end.

In the trio of Schubert’s Symphony № 4 in C minor, D. 417, entitled Tragisch (“Tragic”) by the composer himself, the music starts in E-flat major – and modulates to C-flat major! There is no change of key signature; flats are simply added as necessary.

The scoring in the trio is for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets (in B♭), bassoon I, and strings; bassoon II, horns, trumpets and timpani are silent. I was reading about this symphony in Chapter 5, “Franz Schubert (1797–1828)”, by William McNaught in The Symphony, edited by Ralph Hill, the other day, but did not think to mention this nugget of a musical gem in this thread then.

I have just read about SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN E FLAT MAJOR in that chapter of the book. Now I know that the recapitulation of the finale of this symphony begins in G-flat major!

The slow movement of Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, is in D-flat major. Sarah Walker is at the moment presenting “Sunday Morning” live from Sage Gateshead.