Interlude I: The Major–Minor Misapprehension

Abstract We can easily be led to believe that major and minor are very different from each other. Books of scales and arpeggios, studied assiduously by instrumentalists and required for examinations, set out ‘major’ on one page, ‘minor’ on another. Works are described, verbally and in print, as being in given modes as well as keys. In a sense this is misleading to a student of harmony: it suggests a degree of restraint which does not exist. On the largest scale of a whole work, changes of mode may be frequent and, at times, extensive. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony actually contains more music in C major than in C minor. Although the C minor opening is an essential preparation for the C major of the Finale, it might be better considered as a work ‘on C’ rather than as the ‘symphony in C minor’ which is its usual description.