Musical Keys and Our Emotions
POSTED 2/3/2018
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(Photo of Palau de la Música Catalana is from Pinterest)
Musical Keys and Our Emotions
Musical Keys and Our Emotions
The major mode in music is generally considered bright and happy; the minor mode, dark and sad*. People have wrestled with the question as to why this association of happy with major and sad with minor is so. One of the best answers I've found is that the “major key is present by nature in every note that is played. Therefore, it is interpreted as normal behavior, a happy day in our lives, [because] that's what we expect to happen. The minor key is opposed to the major key and it's perceived by us (without being aware) as if there was something wrong, hence sadness or restlessness.” (Edgar Gonzalez, Stackexchange website)
Beyond this distinction between major and minor modes, there are emotions associated with specific keys. For example, C major is “Completely pure. Simplicity and naivety. The key of children. Free of burden, full of imagination. Powerful resolve. Earnestness. Can feel religious.” Words similar to these appear in several articles on the subject. One blogger advises on how to write songs using the keys and one analyzes Bush and Kerry commercials from the 2004 elections.
I had three questions. Who first realized these connections? Who first summarized them? Are they accurate descriptions? I found the answers on the Western Michigan University website.
The association of specific keys with emotions was apparently common knowledge for classical composers dating back at least to the 18th century. “The association of musical keys with specific emotional or qualitative characteristic was fairly common prior to the 20th century. It was part of the shared cultural experience of those who made, performed and listened to music.” Classical composers were well aware of what the key “meant” and knew that many in their audiences were as well. “We lose a part of the meaning of their music if we are ignorant of their affective choices. Although these characteristics were, of course, subjective, it was possible to conceive of each key as unique because each key actually sounded distinct within unequal temperaments.”
The emotions associated with specific major and minor keys were described more than two centuries ago: “One of the most influential descriptions of characteristics shared in German-speaking cultures in the late 18th and early 19th century was from from Christian Schubart's Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (1806).” **
The first two questions are answered. As for the third (Are they accurate?), the WMU webpage provides a surprising answer:
“When equal temperament became the dominant tuning after 1917, the aural quality of every key became the same, and therefore these affective characteristics are mostly lost to us.“ The dominant emotions provoked by major and minor keys remain – it's just the specific key characteristics may be a bit blurred for us here in the 21st century. Still, these associations have value today and can help us in our enjoyment of music.
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*Interestingly, the minor mode communicates sadness in speech as well. A 2010 study found that both western music and western speech use the interval of a minor third to communicate sadness. The researcher, Meagan Curtis, found that “the speech-melodies of actors' voices (the movement of pitch in their intonation) happened to encompass a minor third when they were asked to communicate sadness. And when listeners were played the same speech-melodies, shorn of the words, they accurately interpreted the actors' emotion.” (The Guardian)
-RJC 2/13/18
** Keys and Emotions
** Keys and Emotions
Here's the description for each of the keys, translated from Christian Schubart's work, by Rita Steblin in A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries. UMI Research Press (1983):
C Major - Completely Pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity, naïvety, children's talk.
C Minor - Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. All languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key.
D♭ Major - A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot laugh, but it can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its crying.--Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought out in this key.
C# Minor - Penitential lamentation, intimate conversation with God, the friend and help-meet of life; sighs of disappointed friendship and love lie in its radius.
D Major - The key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key.
D Minor - Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humours brood.
E♭ Major - The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God.
D# Minor - Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depresssion, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key.
E Major - Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight lies in E Major.
E minor - Naïve, womanly innocent declaration of love, lament without grumbling; sighs accompanied by few tears; this key speaks of the imminent hope of resolving in the pure happiness of C major.
F Major - Complaisance & Calm.
F Minor - Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave.
F# Major - Triumph over difficulty, free sigh of relief utered when hurdles are surmounted; echo of a soul which has fiercely struggled and finally conquered lies in all uses of this key.
F# Minor - A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language.
G Major - Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by this key.
G Minor - Discontent, uneasiness, worry about a failed scheme; bad-tempered gnashing of teeth; in a word: resentment and dislike.
A♭ Major - Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius.
A♭ Minor - Grumbler, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament, difficult struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything struggling with difficulty.
A Major - This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God.
A minor - Pious womanliness and tenderness of character.
B♭ Major - Cheerful love, clear conscience, hope aspiration for a better world.
B♭ minor - A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide sounds in this key.
B Major - Strongly coloured, announcing wild passions, composed from the most glaring coulors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every burden of the heart lies in its sphere.
B Minor - This is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting ones's fate and of submission to divine dispensation.
"Idyllic, lyrical, every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart"
"Idyllic, lyrical, every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart"
POSTED MAY 23, 2021
Prior to the 20th century, musical keys were commonly associated with certain emotions. The emotions associated with specific major and minor keys were described in several works - one of the most influential being that of Christian Schubart published in 1806. Composers and their audiences were familiar with these associations, and writing in a given key would tip off the listeners to the composer's intent.
Although these characteristics were subjective, it was possible to conceive of each key as unique because each key actually sounded distinct within unequal temperaments. When equal temperament became the dominant tuning after 1917, the aural quality of every key became the same, and therefore these affective characteristics are mostly lost to us in performances and recordings today. [1] The specific key characteristics may be a bit blurred for us here in the 21st century. Still, these associations can help us in our enjoyment of music - for example, by giving us some insight into the composer's thoughts.
Schubart's description of the key of G Major is this: "Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by this key." Sounds like perfect listening for a warm weekend in late spring.
Many great classical compositions are in the key of G major. Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, possibly the most famous tune in all of classical music, is written in the key of G major. Among other gems in this key are the three below - a piano trio by Debussy, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, and Chopin's Nocturne No. 12.
Debussy wrote his Piano Trio in G Major when he was just eighteen. Long thought to be lost, the composition was discovered in 1982 in the legacy of Maurice Dumesnil, a pupil of Debussy's. Lyrical and idyllic, it is the work of a young man and only hints at Debussy's later music. Still, it's a beautiful piece.
The American naturalist, writer and photographer Edwin Way Teale wrote, "In May all things seem possible." This work suggests exactly that. Listening to it on a Sunday morning, all things do seem possible - as well they might have to an eighteen-year-old musical genius.
NPR's Ted Libbey calls Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos "supreme achievements in the concerto grosso literature of the Baroque...Subtle and brilliant at the same time, they are a microcosm of Baroque music, with an astonishingly vast sample of that era's emotional universe." [2]
Two of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are in the key of G major. The lively Third Concert is scored, unusually for the Baroque Era, for nine solo strings (three each of violins, violas, and cellos) and continuo. It is the shortest of the concertos and I defy you to have a single sad thought while listening.
Frédéric Chopin is the undisputed master of the nocturne, "a composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night." He wrote 21 nocturnes for solo piano between 1827 and 1846. They are generally considered among the finest short solo works for the instrument and hold an important place in contemporary concert repertoire. [3]
His melodic Nocturne No. 12 is in the key of G major. If you Vampire Weekend fans think it sounds strangely familiar, compare the notes at the four minute mark of this YouTube video [right] with the close of Obvious Bicycle.
Interlude: best songs in G major
References: [1] Western Michigan University [2] NPR [3] Wikipedia
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