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G-flat major

G-flat major is a major scale based on G-flat, consisting of the pitches G♭, A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, and F. Its key signature has six flats (see below: Scales and keys).

Its relative minor is E-flat minor, and its parallel minor is G-flat minor, usually replaced by F-sharp minor, since G-flat minor, which would have five flats and two double-flats, is not normally used.

Its enharmonic equivalent is F-sharp major, whose key signature also has six accidentals. In writing music in E major for B-flat instruments, it is preferable to use a G-flat rather an F-sharp key signature.

Rarely chosen as the main key for orchestral works, G-flat major is more often used as a main key for piano works, such as the impromptus of Chopin and Schubert.

A striking use of G-flat major can be found in the love duet "Tu l'as dit" that concludes the fourth act of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.

Austrian composer Gustav Mahler was fond of using G-flat major in key passages of his symphonies; examples include: The choral entry during the finale of his Second Symphony,^[1] during the first movement of his Third Symphony,^[2] the modulatory section of the Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony,^[3] and during the Rondo-Finale of his Seventh Symphony.^[4] Mahler's Tenth Symphony was composed in the enharmonic key of F sharp major.

References

Scales and keys