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C minor

Also see: C major, or C-sharp minor.

C minor (abbreviated c or cm) is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D E♭, F, G, A♭, and B♭. The harmonic minor raises the B♭ to B♮.

Its key signature consists of three flats (see below: Scales and keys).

In the Baroque period, music in C minor was usually written with a two-flat key signature, and some modern editions of that repertoire keep it that way.

Its relative key is E-flat major, and its parallel major is C major.

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

Of the two piano concertos that Mozart wrote in a minor key, one of them is in C minor, No. 24, K. 491.

C minor has been associated with heroic struggle since Beethoven's time, with the quintessential work in the key being his Symphony No. 5; see Beethoven and C minor. The fact that Brahms's Symphony No. 1 is in C minor contributed to it being nicknamed "Beethoven's Tenth" (Beethoven's actual Symphony No. 10 in E flat major may have had a significant central C minor section in the first movement). Three of Anton Bruckner's ten numbered symphonies are in C minor.

Well-known classical compositions in this key

• Great Mass in C minor (Mozart) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Symphony No. 5 in C Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven
• Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor (Pathétique) - Ludwig van Beethoven
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor - Sergei Rachmaninoff

See also: List of symphonies in C minor

Well-known popular songs in this key

• Bliss - Muse
• Could You Be Loved - Bob Marley
• Desert Rose - Sting
• Get Up, Stand Up - Bob Marley
• It's My Life - Bon Jovi
• Lollipop - Lil Wayne
• Lonely Days - The Bee Gees
• Parallel Universe - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Say It Ain't So - Weezer
• Seven Day Fool - Jully Black
• That's the Way I Like It - KC and the Sunshine Band
• This Love - Maroon 5
• Toxic - Britney Spears
• Tragedy - The Bee Gees

Scales and keys

See also

List of symphonies in C minor

Notes