B minor: The Dark Romantic
Also known as:
The Gloomy Gus.
The Pessimist.
B minors you might know:
Werther from Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby.
Cliff Barnes from Dallas.
The notes: B – C♯ – D – E – F♯ – G – A♯ – B.
Number of sharps: two.
Relative major: D major.
What they said about B minor in the 18th and 19th centuries:
“Banished from music of good taste.” – Francesco Galeazzi, 1796
“Bitter, gloomy lamentation, on account of hard suffering … in these tones the shocked soul looks around exhausted and almost without hope.” – J. A. Schrader, 1827
More G minor listening:
The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre by Richard Wagner.
Cello Concerto by Antonín Dvořák.
The Canadian connection:
“Robots” by Dan Mangan.
Note: Historical quotes and translations from A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries, by Rita Steblin, UMI Research Press (1983).