G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major.
The G natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The G harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
Scale degree chords
The scale degree chords of G minor are:
- Tonic – G minor
- Supertonic – A diminished
- Mediant – B-flat major
- Subdominant – C minor
- Dominant – D minor
- Submediant – E-flat major
- Subtonic – F major
Mozart's use of G minor
G minor has been considered the key through which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart best expressed sadness and tragedy, and many of his minor key works are in G minor, such as Piano Quartet No. 1 and String Quintet No. 4. Though Mozart touched on various minor keys in his symphonies, G minor is the only minor key he used as a main key for his numbered symphonies (No. 25, and the famous No. 40). In the Classical period, symphonies in G minor almost always used four horns, two in G and two in B♭ alto. Another convention of G minor symphonies observed in Mozart's No. 25 and Mozart's No. 40 was the choice of E-flat major, the subdominant of the relative major B♭, for the slow movement, with other examples including Joseph Haydn's No. 39 and Johann Baptist Wanhal's G minor symphony from before 1771.
Notable works in G minor
- Arcangelo Corelli
- Henry Purcell
- "Dido's Lament" from Dido and Aeneas
- Antonio Vivaldi
- Violin Concerto, Op. 4/6, RV 316a
- Violin Concerto, Op. 6/1, RV 324
- Violin Concerto, Op. 6/3, RV 318
- Violin Concerto, Op. 7/3, RV 326
- Violin Concerto "Summer" from "The four seasons", Op. 8/2, RV 315
- Violin Concerto, Op. 8/8, RV 332
- Flute Concerto La Notte, Op. 10/2, RV 439
- Oboe Concerto, Op. 11/6, RV 460
- Georg Philipp Telemann
- Fantasia for flute solo No. 12
- Fantasia for viola da gamba solo No. 7
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001
- Great Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 542
- "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578
- English Suite No. 3, BWV 808
- Joseph Haydn
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 5, No. 2
- Piano Sonata No. 19, Op. 49/1
- Franz Schubert
- Stabat Mater, D 175
- String Quartet No. 9, D 173
- Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. posth. 137/3, D 408
- Carl Maria von Weber
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Frédéric Chopin
- Piano Trio, Op. 8
- Ballade No. 1, Op. 23
- Nocturne, Op. 37, No. 1
- Prelude "Impatience", Op. 28, No. 22
- Cello Sonata, Op. 65
- Polonaise in G minor, Op. posth.
- Charles-Valentin Alkan
- Scherzo diabolico, Op. 39, No. 3
- Esquisses, Op. 63, No. 6 "Les cloches"; No. 26 "Petit air, Genre ancien"
- Franz Liszt
- Robert Schumann
- Symphony in G minor ("Zwickau")
- Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 22
- Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 110
- Clara Schumann
- Piano Trio, Op. 17
- Bedřich Smetana
- Piano Trio, Op. 15
- Johannes Brahms
- Piano Quartet No. 1, Op. 25
- Rhapsody, Op. 79/2
- Capriccio, Op. 116/3
- Ballade, Op. 118/3
- Hungarian Dance No. 5 (orchestral version)
- Camille Saint-Saëns
- Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 22
- Danse macabre, Op. 40
- Max Bruch
- Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 26
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Symphony No. 1, Op. 13
- Antonín Dvořák
- Piano Concerto, Op. 33
- Slavonic Dance No. 8
- Rondo for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 94
- Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 26
- Bagatelles, Op. 47
- Edvard Grieg
- Gabriel Fauré
- Sicilienne, Op. 78
- Claude Debussy
- String Quartet, Op. 10
- Isaac Albéniz
- Cataluña, Op. 47, No. 2
- Mykola Leontovych
- Gustav Holst
- Mars, the bringer of war, from the orchestral suite The Planets
- Ralph Vaughan Williams
- Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Sergei Prokofiev
- Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- Symphony No. 11 The year 1905, Op. 103
- Piano Quintet, Op. 57