B-flat minor

Five-flat key signature

B-flat minor is a musical key based on the note B-flat, using a minor scale that gives it a dark, melancholy character.

With five flats in its key signature, it's considered one of the more difficult keys and appears less frequently than simpler keys.

Composers have used it for works of particular intensity or pathos: Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor contains the famous funeral march.

piano

Chopin

Polish Romantic pianist-composer

nocturneContemplative keyboard piece
sonataMulti-movement instrumental composition
etudeInstrumental practice composition

Rachmaninoff · Tchaikovsky · legato · pedaling · dynamics · pianissimo · fortissimo · arpeggio · octave · trill

melancholy

sorrowful

Filled with grief

mournfulShowing or feeling grief
plaintiveSounding sad, sorrowful
lamentMournful expression of grief

yearning · wistful · somber · pensive · nostalgic · elegiac · doleful · forlorn · heartache · desolate

musicality

tonality

Music organized around tonic

key signatureNotation showing tonal center
harmonyAgreement or musical blend
modulationVarying signals to transmit

transposition · enharmonic · accidentals · scale · chord · cadence · interval · resolution · tonic · dominant

compositions

nocturnes

Compositions suggesting nighttime

preludesIntroductory sections or movements
waltzesTriple-time ballroom dances
scherzosPlayful orchestral movements

concertos · symphonies · chamber music · opus · repertoire

Opposites

mode/quality

B-flat minorB-flat major

Musical key, two flats

D major · C major · A major · G major · F major

tonal distance/harmonic remoteness

B-flat minorE major

Tonality with four sharps

B major · A major · C-sharp minor · E minor · D major

Family

B, flat, minor, flats, flatly, flatten, flattened, flattening, flatness

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Rated G