B-flat minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has five flats. Its relative major is D-flat major and its parallel major is B-flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent, A-sharp minor, which would contain seven sharps, is not normally used.
The B-flat natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The B-flat harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
Scale degree chords
The scale degree chords of B-flat minor are:
- Tonic – B-flat minor
- Supertonic – C diminished
- Mediant – D-flat major
- Subdominant – E-flat minor
- Dominant – F minor
- Submediant – G-flat major
- Subtonic – A-flat major
Characteristics
B-flat minor is traditionally a 'dark' key.
The old natural horn was barely capable of playing in B-flat minor: the only example found in 18th-century music is a modulation that occurs in the first minuet of Franz Krommer's Concertino in D major, Op. 80.
Notable classical compositions
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- Charles-Valentin Alkan
- Prelude Op. 31, No. 12 (Le temps qui n'est plus)
- Symphony for Solo Piano, 3rd movement: Menuet
- Samuel Barber
- Adagio for Strings
- Frédéric Chopin
- Piano Sonata No. 2 "Funeral March"
- Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1
- Scherzo No. 2
- Prelude Op. 28, No. 16 "Hades"
- Mazurka Op. 24, No. 4
- Franz Liszt
- Transcendental Étude No. 12 (Chasse-neige) from Transcendental Études
- Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36
- Domenico Scarlatti
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- Symphony No. 13, Op. 113 ("Babi Yar")
- String Quartet No. 13, Op. 138
- Richard Strauss
- An Alpine Symphony begins and ends in B-flat minor.
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Piano Concerto No. 1
- Marche slave
- William Walton
- Symphony No. 1<!-- No article for this composition
- Sylvius Leopold Weiss
- Tombeau sur la Mort de Compte d'Logy -->