E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.
The E natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The E harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
Much of the classical guitar repertoire is in E minor, as this is a very natural key for the instrument. In standard tuning (E A D G B E), four of the instrument's six open (unfretted) strings are part of the tonic chord. The key of E minor is also popular in heavy metal music, as its tonic is the lowest note on a standard-tuned guitar.
Scale Degree Chords
Tonic - E minor
Supertonic - F-sharp diminished
Mediant - G major
Subdominant - A minor
Dominant - B minor
Submediant - C major
Subtonic - D major
Notable compositions
George Frideric Handel
Messiah (overture) Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 44 (Trauer) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Violin Sonata No. 21 Die Alte, K. 517 Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 8 Piano Sonata No. 27 Carl Maria von Weber Horn Concertino Franz Danzi Horn Sonata Op. 44 Niccolò Paganini Caprice No. 3 Caprice No. 15 Franz Schubert Piano Sonata in E minor, D. 566 Piano Sonata in E minor, D. 769A Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in E minor Piano Concerto No. 1 Waltz in E minor Étude Op. 25, No. 5 "Wrong Note" Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 "Suffocation" Charles-Valentin Alkan Le festin d'Ésope, Op. 39, No. 12, from 12 etudes in all the minor keys Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 Cello Sonata No. 1 Fantasies, Op. 116 (5th movement) Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119 (2nd movement) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) Piano Trio Op. 90 Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 46 Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 72 Edvard Grieg Piano Sonata Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade Gaetano Donizetti String Quartet No. 18 Giuseppe Verdi String Quartet Edward Elgar Cello Concerto Sea Pictures Serenade for Strings String Quartet Violin Sonata Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 1, Op. 39 Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 6 Symphony No. 9
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Moments musicaux, Op. 16, No. 4
Symphony No. 2
Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
Maurice Ravel
Le tombeau de Couperin
Sergei Prokofiev
Montagues and Capulets
Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Trio No. 2
Symphony No. 10
Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548
English Suite No. 5, BWV 810
Partita for keyboard in E minor, BWV 830
Suite in E minor for solo lute, BWV 996
Bourrée in E minor, BWV 996
Bedřich Smetana
Die Moldau
See also
Key (music) Major and minor Chord (music) Chord notation