Key determines mood? Really?!
It is often argued that with the advent of equal temperament all differences between musical keys disappeared, i.e. C major doesn't sound fundamentally different from Eb major. Yet composers still attribute certain moods to certain musical keys. In part this is probably determined by tradition, and in part it may be influenced by the mechanics of playing an instrument: playing a piece in C major on a piano (using only white keys) is quite a different experience from playing that same piece in C# major (using many black and some white keys) because of the differences between physical location of black and white keys on a piano. Also, bowed instruments will often play an F# differently than a Gb, despite both being the same note on a piano.
So what are these traditional moods associated to certain keys?
This list is based on a list made up by Christian Schubart in his book Ideen Zu Einer Ästhetik Der Tonkunst...
| Key | Mode | Mood |
|---|---|---|
| C | major | completely pure key; speaks of innocence, simplicity, naivety, child's talk |
| Db | major | key to bring out unusual feelings; can smile but not laugh; can grimace but not cry |
| D | major | key of triumph, hallelujah, war-cries and victory-rejoicing |
| Eb | major | key of love, devotion, intimate conversation with God |
| E | major | noisy shouts of love, laughing pleasure and not-yet-complete full delight |
| F | major | key of complaisance and calmness |
| Gb | major | key of triumph over difficulty, sigh of relief after difficulaties have been overcome |
| G | major | key that is rustic, idyllic and lyrical, calm and satisfied passion, any gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart |
| Ab | major | key of the grave, death, putrefaction, judgement, eternity |
| A | major | declaration of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs, hope of seeing one's beloved one again when departing, youthful cheerness and trust in God |
| Bb | major | cheerful love, clear conscience, hope, aspiration for a better world |
| B | major | strongly colored, announcing wild passions, anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every emotion of the heart |
| C | minor | declaration of love with lament of unhappy love, sighing of the lovesick soul |
| C# | minor | penitential lamentation, intimate conversation with God, sighs of disappointed friendship and love |
| D | minor | melancholy, womanliness |
| Eb | minor | feelings of anxiety, the soul's deepest distress, brooding despair, blackest depression, most gloomy condition of the soul |
| E | minor | naive declaration of love, lament without grumbling, sighs accompanied by a few tears, desires to resolve into the pure happiness of C major |
| F | minor | deep depression, funeral lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave |
| F# | minor | a gloomy key, resentment and discontent, it languishes for the calm of A major or happiness of D major |
| G | minor | discontent, uneasiness, worry about a failed scheme, bad-tempered gnashing of teeth, dislike |
| G# | minor | grumbling, struggling with difficulty, heart squeezed until it suffocates |
| A | minor | pious womanliness, tenderness of character |
| Bb | minor | mocking God and the world, discontented with itself and everything, preparation of suicide |
| B | minor | key of patience, calm awaiting one's fate, submission to divine dispensation, mild lament without breaking out into offensive murmuring or whimpering, |
