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C major

Relative key	A minor
Parallel key	C minor
Dominant key	G major
Subdominant	F major
Component pitches
C, D, E, F, G, A, B

C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, with the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common key signatures used in western music. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel minor is C minor.

The C major scale is:

On the piano, the C major scale can be played by playing the white keys starting on C.

Compositions

Twenty of Joseph Haydn's 104 symphonies are in C major, making it his second most-used key, second only to D major. Of the 134 symphonies mistakenly attributed to Haydn that H. C. Robbins Landon lists in his catalog, 33 are in C major, more than any other key. Before the invention of the valves, Haydn did not write trumpet and timpani parts in his symphonies, except those in C major. Landon writes that it wasn't "until 1774 that Haydn uses trumpets and timpani in a key other than C major... and then only sparingly." Most of Haydn's symphonies in C major are labelled "festive" and are of a primarily celebratory mood.^[1] (See also List of symphonies in C major).

Many masses and settings of Te Deum in the Classical era were in C major. Mozart wrote most of his masses in C major and so did Haydn.^[2]

Of Franz Schubert's two symphonies in the key, the first is nicknamed the "Little C major" and the second the "Great C major".

Many musicians have pointed out that every musical key conjures up specific feelings. This idea is further explored in a radio program called The Signature Series. American popular songwriter Bob Dylan claimed the key of C major to "be the key of strength, but also the key of regret."^[3] French composers such as Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Rameau generally thought of C major as a key for happy music,^{[citation needed]} but Hector Berlioz in 1856 described it as "serious but deaf and dull."^{[citation needed]}Ralph Vaughan Williams was impressed by Sibelius's Symphony No. 7 in C major and remarked that only Sibelius could make the key sound fresh. However, C major was a key of great importance in Sibelius's previous symphonies.^[4]Claude Debussy, noted for composing music that avoided a particular key center, once said, "I do not believe in the supremacy of the C major scale."^{[citation needed]}

Examples

See also

• Key (music)


• Major and minor


• Chord (music)


• Chord names and symbols (popular music)

References

Further reading

• 
  David Fanning, "Shostakovich: 'The Present-Day Master of the C Major Key'". Acta Musicologica. 73 (2): 101–140. 2001. doi:10.2307/932894. JSTOR 932894.
  


• David Wyn Jones, "The Beginning of the Symphony", chapter in A Guide to the Symphony edited by Robert Layton. Oxford University Press.


• 
  H. C. Robbins Landon, Haydn: The Symphonies BBC Music Guides

External links

• 
  Media related to C major at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Diatonic scales and keys
	Flats Sharps Major minor Major minor 0 C a C a 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♯ 8 F♭ d♭ G♯ e♯
The table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale. Minor scales are written in lower case.