science

Music written in all major or minor keys

Music written in all major or minor keys is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Music written in all major or minor keys rather than just read about it. In short: There is a long tradition in classical music of writing music in sets of pieces that cover all the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. These sets typically consist of 24 pieces, one for each of the major and minor keys (sets that comprise all the enharmonic variants include 30 pieces).

Key takeaways

Music written in all major or minor keys belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Music written in all major or minor keys to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Music written in all major or minor keys from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

There is a long tradition in classical music of writing music in sets of pieces that cover all the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. These sets typically consist of 24 pieces, one for each of the major and minor keys (sets that comprise all the enharmonic variants include 30 pieces). Examples include Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and Frédéric Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28. Such sets are often organized as preludes and fugues or designated as preludes or études. Some composers have restricted their sets to cover only the 12 major keys or the 12 minor keys; or only the flat keys (Franz Liszt's Transcendental Études) or the sharp keys (Sergei Lyapunov's Op. 11 set). In yet another type, a single piece may progressively modulate through a set of tonalities, as occurs in Ludwig van Beethoven's 2 Preludes through all the Major Keys, Op. 39. The bulk of works of this type have been written for piano solo, but there also exist sets for piano 4-hands; two pianos; organ; guitar; two guitars; flute; recorder; oboe; violin solo; violin and piano; cello solo; cello and piano; voice and piano; and string quartet. There are examples of attempts to write full sets that, for one reason or another, were never completed (Josef Rheinberger's organ sonatas, Dmitri Shostakovich's string quartets, César Franck's L'Organiste).

Notable sets that cover all 24 keys Vincenzo Galilei: Libro d’intavolature di liuto, (1584) - a work containing an early set of 24 dances for lute in all 24 keys Johann Sebastian Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I and II (1722 and 1742) – two separate sets of 24 preludes and fugues, together known as "the 48". Frédéric Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op. 28 (1835–39) Franz Liszt: Transcendental Études, S. 139 (1826–52) cover only the keys in flats and with no accidentals. Liszt did not fulfill his original intention to write the full suite of 24 études in all keys. In 1897–1905, Sergei Lyapunov wrote his 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, Op. 11, which cover the remaining keys, in sharps, and are dedicated to Liszt's memory. Charles-Valentin Alkan: 25 Preludes, Op. 31 (1847); 24 études in all the major and minor keys, Opp. 35, 39 (1848 and 1857) Alexander Scriabin: 24 Preludes, Op. 11 (1893–95) – Scriabin wrote a total of 90 preludes for piano (50 in major keys, 31 in minor keys, and 9 in indeterminate keys). These contained only one complete set of preludes in all 24 major and minor keys. Sergei Rachmaninoff: 24 Preludes, Opp. 3/2, 23, and 32 (1892, 1901–03, and 1910) Paul Hindemith: Ludus Tonalis (1942) – 12 fugues and 12 interludes covering all twelve keys, where the major/minor distinction does not apply, book-ended by a praeludium and a postludium. Dmitry Kabalevsky: Preludes, Op. 38 (1943–44) – each in a different key and each based on a folksong Dmitri Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (1950–51) – Shostakovich also wrote a separate set of 24 Preludes, Op. 34 in 1933.

Composers who wrote multiple sets

A number of composers have written multiple sets of works covering all the keys of the scale.

14 sets: Niels Viggo Bentzon (1919–2000) wrote 14 complete sets of 24 Preludes and Fugues, a total of 336 pieces in this genre alone. The contemporary composer Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) has also written 14 complete sets of preludes so far, each using a different sequence of keys. 8 sets: Carl Czerny 5 sets: Charles-Valentin Alkan, Joachim Andersen 4 sets: Richard Hofmann, Franciszek Zachara 3 sets: Adolf von Henselt, Charles Koechlin, Christian Heinrich Rinck 2 sets: Lera Auerbach, David Cope, Johann Baptist Cramer, Ferdinand David, Hans Gál, Stefano Golinelli, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Aaron Andrew Hunt, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Nikolai Kapustin, Joseph Christoph Kessler, Craig Sellar Lang, Trygve Madsen, Désiré Magnus, Ignaz Moscheles, Rob Peters, Jaan Rääts, Igor Rekhin, Dmitri Shostakovich (he also left unfinished a set of string quartets in all keys), Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Sulkhan Tsintsadze, Louis Vierne, Vsevolod Zaderatsky other: Franz Liszt wrote only one set of his own, but he also transcribed for piano solo a set for violin and piano by Ferdinand David. Josef Rheinberger wrote one full set, and died before completing a further set of organ sonatas. Full details are shown in the tables below.

Variants

Single pieces that modulate through many keys Ludwig van Beethoven wrote 2 Preludes through all 12 Major Keys, Op. 39 for piano (1789). These two preludes each progressively traverse the 12 major keys. In Prelude No. 1, each key occupies from 2 to 26 bars. The keys of C♯ and D♭, which are enharmonically equivalent, are both represented. C major both opens and closes the set. In Prelude No. 2, the cycle of keys appears twice; in the first cycle, the number of bars per key ranges from 1 to 8; in the second half, after C every new key signature lasts for only one bar; the cycle concludes with 15 bars of C major. There is no evidence that Beethoven intended to write similar sets in the 12 minor keys. Giovanni Battista Vitali (1632–1692) included in Artificii musicali, Op. 13 (1689) a passacaglia which modulates through eight major keys (out of twelve) from E♭ major to E major through the cycle of fifths.

Fugue No. 8 from Anton Reicha's Trente six Fugues pour le Piano-Forté composées d'après un nouveau systême (subtitled Cercle harmonique) modulates through all keys. The rondo theme of Darius Milhaud's Le bœuf sur le toit is played fifteen times in all 12 major keys (twice in A major and three times in the tonic, C major). It also passes through every minor key except E minor and B minor.

Works covering all eight church modes Around 1704, Johann Pachelbel completed his 95 Magnificat Fugues, which covered all eight of the church modes. Charles-Valentin Alkan composed Petits préludes sur les huit gammes du plain-chant, for organ (1859, no opus number), a sequence of eight organ preludes covering each of the church modes. In the music of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the doxasticon for Vespers of the Dormition is notable as a single hymn that includes passages in all eight tones of the Byzantine Octoechos.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Music written in all major or minor keys: Composer Niels Viggo Bentzon wrote 14 complete sets of 24 Preludes and Fugues. — Composer Niels Viggo Bentzon wrote 14 complete sets of 24 Preludes and Fugues.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Music written in all major or minor keys

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Music written in all major or minor keys claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Music written in all major or minor keys before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Music written in all major or minor keys ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Music written in all major or minor keys

In research: Music written in all major or minor keys appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Music written in all major or minor keys in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Music written in all major or minor keys is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Circle of fifths, Classical compositions, Classical music styles, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Music written in all major or minor keys outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Music written in all major or minor keys in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Music written in all major or minor keys means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Music written in all major or minor keys out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Music written in all major or minor keys in simple terms?

Why does Music written in all major or minor keys matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Music written in all major or minor keys?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Music written in all major or minor keys.