E-Flat Major

(Ger. Es dur). Most brass instruments are pitched in either B♭ or E♭. Thus, these keys are commonly used in festive SERENADES, military MARCHES, and solemn CHORALES.

Works in E♭ major are suitable for heroic, patriotic, and religious themes. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN'S EROICA symphony cannot be imagined in any other key, nor can his EMPEROR concerto. One of the greatest of WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART symphonies, No. 39, is set in also in this key. ANTON BRUKNER'S Romantic Symphony, his Fourth, and GUSTAV MAHLER'S grandiose Eighth Symphony, nicknamed Symphony of a Thousand, are in E♭.

It is not by accident that ROBERT SCHUMANN'S Third Symphony is surnamed Rhenish, for it reflects the nature of life on the River Rhine, with its constant traffic and horns signaling the departure of stagecoaches. Beethoven's piano sonata that he named Les Adieux begins with an imitation of the postillion's (horn player's) signal in HORN FIFTHS.

E♭ major is peculiarly suited to the piano keyboard, because the notes of its scale are fairly evenly distributed between the white and black keys. Piano works in E♭ major number in the thousands. FRANZ LISZT set his First Piano Concerto in E♭ major, but he avoided immediately introducing the key. Rather, he teased the listener with a SYNCOPATED descent from the TONIC into the DOMINANT.

When HANS VON BÜLOW was asked what his favorite key was, he replied "E♭ major, for it is the key of the Eroica Symphony, and it has three Bs [B signifies a flat in German] for Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms." This was the origin of the famous grouping of composers as the "three B's of music."

In his egocentric tone poem, Ein Heldenleben, Richard Strauss wrote a violin solo in E-flat major to represent himself!