E flat major

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E-flat major
Image:E-flat_Major_key_signature.png
Relative key C minor
Parallel key E-flat minor
Component pitches
E-flat, F, G, A-flat, B-flat, C, D, E-flat
Also see: E-flat minor, or E major.

E-flat major is a major scale consisting of the pitches E-flat, F, G, A-flat, B-flat, C, D, and E-flat. Its key signature has three flats: B, E, A (see below: Scales and keys). [The musical note E-flat is a half-tone between D & E.]

Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E flat minor.

E-flat major is often associated with bold, heroic music, in part because of Beethoven's usage. His Eroica Symphony and his Emperor Concerto are both in this key. Also Beethoven's (hypothetical) 10th symphony is in the key of E-flat major.

Another reason for using E-flat major is that it is a very good key for brass instruments (valveless 19th-century brass instruments specifically constructed to sound in this key were found to produce the most satisfying tone color).

Ascending and descending E-flat Major Scale.
Ascending and descending E-flat Major Scale.

Thus, three of Mozart's completed horn concerti and Joseph Haydn's famous Trumpet Concerto are in E-flat major, and so is Anton Bruckner's Fourth Symphony with its prominent horn theme in the first movement. Another famous heroic piece in the key of E-flat major is Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life). The heroic theme from the Jupiter movement of Holst's The Planets is in E-flat major. Many pieces end heroically, sometimes in E-flat major, including Mahler's second and eighth symphonies.

E-flat major is also a very common key for gospel music. "When composing church music and operatic music in E-flat major, [Joseph] Haydn often substituted cors anglais for oboes in this period," and also in the Symphony No. 22 in E-flat major.[1]

It is also frequently used to express serenity, such as in Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in E flat, Op. 9 No. 2.

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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

  1. ^ David Wyn Jones, "The Symphonies of Haydn" in A Guide To The Symphony, ed. Robert Layton. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Diatonic Scales and Keys
Circle of fifths
Flats Sharps
Major minor Major minor
0 C (Major), a (minor)
1 F d G e
2 B♭ g D b
3 E♭ c A f♯
4 A♭ f E c♯
5 D♭ b♭ B g♯
6 G♭ e♭ F♯ d♯
7 C♭ a♭ C♯ a♯
                    lower case letters are minor                        

the table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale
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