Music in D-flat-Major

D-flat Major is low, dark and rich. It is also rather weighty. Because it is so low and rich it in fact loses some expressive capacity. It has a brown color.

D-flat major is a key with D-flat as root and consists of the pitches D♭, E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭ and C. Its key signature has five flats. It is enharmonically equivalent to C-sharp major. Its relative minor is B-flat minor.

Like other keys far removed from C Major, such as G-flat Major, C-sharp major and F-sharp major, D-flat major was not used during the Baroque and Classical periods. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was only rarely used as the main key for orchestral works, but these keys were somewhat popular for small piano pieces, as etudes, preludes, nocturnes, waltzes, and so on - after all, although difficult to read, they are relatively easy to play on the piano as the black keys fit the position of the fingers.

As orchestral works go, the most well-known symphony in D-flat Major is the "Romantic Symphony" (Symphony No 2) by the American composer Howard Hanson. Others are the Symphony No. 25, Op. 69 (1945-6) by Myaskovsky and the Symphony No. 3, "Song under the Stars" by Ture Rangström. And we have two piano concertos in this key: the first piano concerto by Prokofiev and the piano concerto by Khatchaturian.

Of course, single movements of larger works are a bit more often in this key: Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is written in B-flat minor, but the famous opening theme is in D-flat major (as is the second movement). Sergei Rachmaninoff composed the famous 18th variation of his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in this key, perhaps emphasizing the generally held view that D-flat major is a romantically flavored key. And Nikolai Medtner similarly chose this key for the sensually romantic "big tune" in the last movement of his Piano Concerto No. 3. Also Edvard Grieg composed the second movement of his Piano Concerto in D-flat.

Gustav Mahler concluded his Ninth Symphony with an Adagio in D-flat major, rather than the home key of D major of the first movement. Anton Bruckner wrote the third movement of his Symphony No. 8 in D-flat major, while every other movement is in C minor. Antonín Dvořák wrote the second movement of his Symphony No. 9 in D-flat major, while every other movement is in E minor. Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata has a slow movement (a set of variations) in D-flat Major.

As chamber music goes, we have Vincent d'Indy's String Quartet No. 3, Op. 96,  in D-flat.

We turn to the small piano works: the "Raindrop" prelude by Chopin; Debussy's Clair de Lune from the Suite bergamasque; Schubert's Scherzo in D-flat major; and Liszt's Étude No. 3, Un sospiro.

Characteristic Music in D-flat Major

Hanson: Symphony No. 2, Op. 30 in D-flat major, "Romantic"

Eight years after his 1st Symphony ("Nordic"), Howard Hanson, by then director of the Eastman School of Music, wrote his 2nd Symphony, to which he gave the epithet "Romantic". The symphony was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary and was premiered in Boston on November 28, 1930, conducted by Sergei Koussevitzky. The work is in three movements:

    Adagio - Allegro moderato
    Andante con tenerezza
    Allegro con brio

The Adagio introduction of the 1st movement is marked by an ascending three-note motive forming a minor third, soon followed by mirror-image descending three notes that are also the beginning of the main theme presented in the horns. The quiet second theme is presented in the oboe, then in the solo horn. Characteristics of the movement are not so much thematic treatment in a symphonic sense as an episodic succession of sections of dramatic tension juxtaposed with long lyrical passages.

The 2nd movement begins with a hymn-like melody in the woodwinds in thirds doublings, followed by a countermelody in the horn, then in the high treble of the strings. In some transitions of the further course of the movement, unexpected harmonic turns occur, but dissonances are soon resolved. In the middle of the movement, the three-tone motto with which the work begins is heard again as a reminiscence.

The excited beginning of the 3rd movement is followed by a subdued string passage. Subsequent ostinati by strings and timpani punctuate a wind line somewhat reminiscent of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps. The movement soon leads into several climaxes in which the themes of the first movement are resumed.

Howard Hanson's 2nd Symphony was a great success and was taken up by many orchestras. It was to remain his best-known work. D-flat major indeed provides the symphony with a richly romantic flavor.

Joseph Young leads the Peabody Symphony Orchestra

Sergei, Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 1 Opus 10 in D-flat major

Sergei Prokofiev, only twenty years old, began composing his First Piano Concerto in D-flat major in the year 1911. He completed the composition in 1912. His First Piano Concerto, with a duration of fifteen minutes, is the shortest of his five piano concertos.

The concerto is structured as follows:

    Allegro brioso
    Andante assai
    Allegro scherzando

The Allegro brioso and the Allegro scherzando share a grotesque theme written in D-flat major. It doesn't have any romantic qualities, but is squarely Modernist. D-flat Major here assumes the same qualities as its enharmonic equivalent, C-sharp Major: leering, sardonic, and in any case very unusual.

The Andante assai has a much darker feel. Partly due to the use of wind instruments, the Andante assai evokes a similar atmosphere to the Adagio assai from Maurice Ravel's later piano concerto in G.

During the graduation finals at the conservatory, Prokofiev managed to play his own First Piano Concerto. This to the great anger of the conservative director of the conservatory, the composer Alexander Glazunov. But a performance of his piano concerto at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1914 earned Prokofiev the Anton Rubinstein Prize.

Martha Argerich, Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana, Alexandre Rabinovitch.

Frédéric Chopin, Prelude Op. 28, No. 15 in D-flat Major

Known as the "Raindrop" prelude, this is one of Chopin's most famous works. The prelude is noted for its repeating A-flat, which appears throughout the piece and sounds like raindrops to many listeners.

The prelude opens with a "serene" theme in D-flat. It then changes to a "lugubrious interlude" in C-sharp minor, "with the dominant pedal never ceasing, a basso ostinato". The repeating A-flat/G-sharp, which has been heard throughout the first section, here becomes more insistent. Following this, the prelude ends with a repetition of the original theme.

Played by Lang Lang.

Franz Liszt, Concert Étude No. 3 in D-flat Major, "Un sospiro"

The set of three Concert Études by Franz Liszt were composed between 1845–49 and published in Paris as "Trois caprices poétiques" with the three individual titles as they are known today. As the title indicates, they are intended not only for the acquisition of a better technique, but also for concert performance. Liszt was himself a virtuoso pianist and was able to easily play many complex patterns generally considered difficult. The Italian subtitles now associated with the études - Il lamento ("The Lament"), La leggierezza ("Lightness"), and Un sospiro ("A sigh") - first appeared in the French edition.

Its score sprawls onto three musical staves and it sounds as if it requires, at minimum, three large and dexterous hands. But all of these voluptuous tones are played using an amazing slight of hand. The melody line alternates between the pianist’s left and right hands while the surrounding arpeggios remain smooth and flowing. As the piece progresses, the voicing gets increasingly complex.

The third of the Three Concert Études is in D-flat major, and is a study in crossing hands, playing a simple melody with alternating hands, and arpeggios. It is also a study in the way hands should affect the melody with its many accentuations, or phrasing with alternating hands. The melody is quite dramatic, almost impressionistic, radically changing in dynamics at times, and has inspired many listeners. The étude has been considered by many pianists as one of the most beautiful piano pieces ever composed. Liszt kept the étude in his repertoire until his final years.

Played by Lang Lang

Claude Debussy, Clair de Lune in D-flat Major from the Suite bergamasque

Debussy began composing his piano work Suite bergamasque around 1890, at the age of 28, but significantly revised it just before its 1905 publication. The popularity of the 3rd movement, "Clair de lune", has made it one of the composer's most famous works for piano, as well as one of the most famous musical pieces of all-time.

The third movement of Suite bergamasque, "Clair de lune", is written in D-flat major. It is written in 9/8 meter and marked andante très expressif. Its title, which means "moonlight" in French, is taken from Verlaine's poem "Clair de lune".

Played by Daniel Barenboim

[Incorporates technical sections of the relevant public domain articles from either the Japanese, Dutch, German or English Wikipedia]