Affective Key Characteristics

[loopdon]

"from Christian Schubart's Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (1806)

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.

Db 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.

Eb 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.

Ab Major
Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius.

Ab 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.

Bb Major
Cheerful love, clear conscience, hope aspiration for a better world.

Bb 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.

Translated by Rita Steblin in A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries. UMI Research Press (1983)."

[RDR]

Nice find!

[bmovie]

Yes, very nice!

[theledge]

really good, i wonder if it was written with equal tempered tuning in mind, as i understand it a lot of the character of individual keys was lost as this became standard

interesting stuff

[judas_beast]

Nice one for that. I always try to write my stuff with a key in mind, but it's been a long time since I did music at school, you tend to forget!!

[FILTERZ]

nice , i tend to write most stuff in g coz the bass is fattest

[loopdon]

me as well. allthough i will try and test some of this stuff...

[FILTERZ]

me as well. allthough i will try and test some of this stuff...

absolutely

[massplanck]

really good, i wonder if it was written with equal tempered tuning in mind, as i understand it a lot of the character of individual keys was lost as this became standard

interesting stuff

I dont get it. A key is a key. an A Major Scale has all the same intervals as any other Major scale. Its just that its played at a different position. Minor scales (which are modes) are a different story. They do sound more melancholy. Maybe this list has more to do with the pitch of the root note as opposed to the actual scales.

If you want to start experimenting with different *feelings* with scales\notes\ etc then look at the Major scale modes and the Chords that go with them. Dorian, Locrian, Aeolian etc...

[massplanck]

aha! >>>Translated by Rita Steblin in A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries.

What instruments, what sort of tuning?

[massplanck]

The lowest note on a guitar is nowhere near the lowest note on your piano or keyboard. When a guitarist starts rocking with his standard E chord, he has just started off on the lowest chord/note possible and all subsequent chords\notes are gonna be *higher* than this. But If he starts the same tune in D Major for example, he can (almost has to) use chords & notes lower than Root chord which means he can get a different characteristic using the same intervals. Keyboards usually have more octaves, so you can just drop down past your root note whenever you want to. I dunno what the story is with violins & other stringed instruments.. prolly same as the guitar.

Im confused. Im no expert. I must look into different tunings.

All i would ever say about the characteristics of Major and Minor Scales are that they are Happy & Melancholy respectively.Everything else (which this person describes) is in the skill of the musician. IMHO. Major Modes are a completly different story.

Pls Correct me if im wrong.

:(

[massplanck]

"Ab Major
Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius."

ok try playing Ab Major and then some other chords in the scale ie C# Major & D# Major.

Eternal Death my hole Its just a few Major Chords.. and its just a Major Scale.. Happy as larry. Modes & More exotic scales are the key to feeling i think.

Must be something in the tuning of the individual notes or lots of Opium.

[loopdon]

Who are you talking to, Massplanck ? :)

I posted it because i thought it was a little weird/interersting/thought-provoking. It has proven to be.

Now what you make of the ''information'' provided is a different thing.

[massplanck]

Who are you talking to, Massplanck ? :)

Im talking to anyone who wants to chat about what you posted!

[loopdon]

Ok

[massplanck]

So. Any thoughts?

It is very interesting. But i just wanted to chat about it. Rather than just go nice one and think i can make all my songs sound evil now by using an Ab Major scale. I'm intruiged as to how Schubert etc (and quite a few others ) came to these conclusions. Some composers desciptions of these scales completely contradict each other , so I'd like to know 'why' and 'how' these associations were attached. The reasons.

Like you said we are free to do what we wish with the information you gave us. and I chose to discuss it which obviously was the incorrect thing to do.

[theledge]

I dont get it. A key is a key. an A Major Scale has all the same intervals as any other Major scale. Its just that its played at a different position. Minor scales (which are modes) are a different story. They do sound more melancholy. Maybe this list has more to do with the pitch of the root note as opposed to the actual scales.

If you want to start experimenting with different *feelings* with scales\notes\ etc then look at the Major scale modes and the Chords that go with them. Dorian, Locrian, Aeolian etc...

i think that it was not always the case that all the scales were equal

this is reflected in instruments that can only play in certain keys (trumpets, horns etc)

equal temperament was the shoe horning of all the different keys characteristics into a standardized system, prior to the classical period of music

highly fascinating as this all is, my music theory unfortunately peters out at about this point. i'd love to understand this better

i think the 'characteristics' of each key have kept on being associated with them even today, even though they don't really apply as they did, as well as you correctly say the characteristics of the root note

perhaps someone more musically knowledgeable can help me out here

[massplanck]

highly fascinating as this all is, my music theory unfortunately peters out at about this point. i'd love to understand this better

ditto.

[loopdon]

So. Any thoughts?

It is very interesting. But i just wanted to chat about it. Rather than just go nice one and think i can make all my songs sound evil now by using an Ab Major scale. I'm intruiged as to how Schubert etc (and quite a few others ) came to these conclusions. Some composers desciptions of these scales completely contradict each other , so I'd like to know 'why' and 'how' these associations were attached. The reasons.

Like you said we are free to do what we wish with the information you gave us. and I chose to discuss it which obviously was the incorrect thing to do.

Sorry i might have come over like a jerk, mate. I actually am bewildered by this list, myself.

[massplanck]

lol -> likewise

no worries.