The 5 Best Key Changes in Classical Music

Rounding off my mini-series on Harmony, this video is about those sudden key changes, that often form points of revelation or increased intensity...This list is entirely personal!

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The original version belongs to nikitaventures music, who have copyright claimed my whole video.

[pseudotonal]

Number 4 wasn't a key change, just a progression. And it wasn't an A flat 7, it was a an augmented sixth (German 6/5) chord which is a device in the parallel C minor. Mozart prepares us for it by giving us an F minor chord, the subdominant in C minor, then a D flat major chord which is a submedient in F minor. The A flat is in both C minor and F minor, so we accept it. It properly resolves to the tonic 6/4 and then has the V-I to satisfy us.

[Nobilangelo]

That blazing, heaven-storming transition from the 3rd to the 4th movements in Beethoven's 5th Symphony is one of the greatest moments in all music.

[Casutama]

I love the finale of Mozart's 41st symphony, it never fails to get my heart rate up

[Aussiemarco]

Isolde’s Liebestod is absolutely one of the greatest pieces of music ever composed. Indescribably glorious as one’s soul is lifted to Heaven, just as Isolde’s soul joins Tristan’s in Heaven.

One of those moments when music caresses our soul.

[willyj]

I love the very beginning of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 when the piano states the main theme in G major and then the orchestra responds with the theme seemingly in B major before transitioning back to G.

[fionamacleod]

Totally agree with your number 1. I always cry at this key change moment. It’s like the biggest release after so many hours of never ending never settling unrestful harmony. What a moment.‘!!! 🙏🏻💚

[sephyradance]

Thank you for this video!! I'm myself really interested in key changes - although I don't know anything technical about them - and I always think it produces a tremendous effect. I love how you explain them, it makes them even more enjoyable. And yes, definitely, the passage from the 3rd mov to the finale in Beethoven's 5th is my favourite transition of all time. But your putting Wagner as no 1 makes so much sense. Harmonically, the others are really good, but he's a miracle. I'm a Wagner fan, but I think I'm just being objective here!

[anman]

One of my all-time favorites is the transition from F major to F-sharp minor in the finale of Beethoven's 8th symphony using the C sharp/D flat as the pivotal note. Every time I listen to it I marvel at just how seamless it flows.

[enricochestri]

All 5 are sublime excerpts of Musik at its highest heavenly levels....

[ezekielbrockmann]

Sibelius' 5th Symphony, that moment. Dear God, ...
Just Sublime!
Also, mining the depths of Chopin's Nocturnes, the form of which are predominantly ABA', just the way the contradictory melodies and rhythms stop their juxtaposition upon returning to the original key are literally breathtaking.

[wangligong]

Thank you for the great video. Since you mention Schubert's D.960: one of my favorite moments is towards the end of the second movement of this same sonata, where C major seems to come in from nowhere. One day I finally realized (I'm not a musician) this was the exact opposite of what happened earlier in the movement: earlier it was from G#/Ab to E (relative major of the home key), a major third down; and here from G#/Ab to C, a major third up. Since then I loved this moment even more...

[masantonio]

The second coming of the Andante theme halfway through Liszt’s Piano Sonata is golden. F-Sharp Major to G Minor - G Major and back to F-Sharp is too good.

[andrewketchum]

Yes, I fully agree on Beethoven's 5th symphony, third to fourth movement. During the progression there are hints of the first movement as well. One of my favorites.

[peterb]

At the opening of Act 2 of La Traviata, Alfredo sings of how happy he is that Violetta has given everything up to be with him (Lunge da lei). He then sings, "Qui presso a lei io rinascer mi sento" [Here close to her I feel myself being born again.] The key change in the orchestra always takes my breath away, given the tragedy which later befalls them both.

[gevenliu]

I’m so glad you included the Schubert D.960!! This is one of my absolutely favorite pieces (especially the later 2min in first movement development section, I think that’s the most tender two minutes in the entire Western musical literature). Schubert is so often overshadowed by the giants of grandiose sublimity propelled by the romantic historicity; to for me his tender vision is every bit as respectable as the hugeness in Wagner or Mahler. That said, I have to say, in the same sonata D.960, in the second movement recapitulation part, the very abrupt unmodulated key change from C# to C Major in bar 103 is absolutely magical and jaw-dropping, perhaps even more surprising than the first movement recap! Schubert simply has way too many interesting key change examples!

[ErnestSDavis]

Wonderful video, thanks for posting! My own vote is for the shift from D major to D minor in the transition from the 2nd to the 3rd section of the Bach Chaconne in D minor. You think you have attained a state of peace and contentment, and then in four bars it shifts back to a deeper tragedy than ever.

[mrz]

I incorporated that key change in Beethoven's 5th symphony in an Easter sermon a couple years ago. The dark, ominous tone that disappears into all those rumbling tympani sounded like Jesus' trial, crucifixion and burial, and that shift to that loud, bold major key 4th movement was the resurrection.

[creslinwest]

There is a moment in Faure's Requiem in the Agnus Dei. The first section (mostly in F major) ends with the tenors singing a C. The soprano's take over the C holding it for two bars unacompanied and the rest of the choir (and strings) enter on a beautifully pianissimo A flat major chord. It's absolutely magical.

[kirill]

I’m so happy you included Sib. 5 mvt 3, when I started the video I was really hoping to see it here.

[georgenorris]

Somebody below mentions the end of the adagio of Mahler's fourth. One of the most entrancing passages ever. And, of course, you mentioned the swan theme from the finale of Sibelius 5 which brings me close to tears just to think about it. Beethoven's ninth needs mentioning too though - especially the amazing key changes in the slow movement. It's in B flat but then that amazing D first version chord transforms everything. Later you get the Eflat forte section and the second time it comes the whole orchestra play the most resounding D flat chord. an overwhelming moment which seems to contain all of life's struggles within it.