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C major (often just C) is a musical major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C. Its key signature contains no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor. C major is one of the most commonly used key signatures in music. Most transposing instruments playing in their home key are notated in C major; for example, a clarinet in B-flat playing a B-flat major scale is notated as playing a C major scale. The white keys of the piano correspond to the C major scale. A harp tuned to C major has all its pedals in the middle position. 19 of Joseph Haydn's 104 symphonies are in C major, making it his second most often used main key. Of the 134 symphonies mistakenly attributed to Haydn that H. C. Robbins Landon lists in his catalog, 33 of them are in C major, more than any other key. Before the invention of the valve trumpet, Haydn did not write trumpet and timpani parts in his symphonies, except those in C major. H. C. Robbins 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." Many Masses and Te Deums in the Classical era were in C major. Mozart wrote most of his Masses in C major. Of Franz Schubert's two symphonies in the key, the first is called the "Little C major" and the second "the great C major." Although not terribly difficult for a guitar, C major is not considered ideal for the instrument. The three notes of the dominant chord (G, B & D) are available as open strings, but the root of the tonic chord is not. French composers such as Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Rameau generally thought of C major as a key for happy music, but Hector Berlioz in 1856 described it as "serious but deaf and dull." Vaughan Williams was impressed by Sibelius's Symphony No. 7 in C major and remarked that only Sibelius could make the key sound fresh. 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." In musical catalogs that sort the musical pieces by key, whether they go by semitones or along the circle of fifths, they almost always begin with those pieces in C major. A notable modern use of the key is Terry Riley's In C, often considered to be the first minimalist composition. The default new document in the Finale notation program, without the setup wizard, is in C major.
Well-known classical compositions in C major Well-known contemporary music in C major | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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