E-flat minor
Minor key with six flats; relative minor of G-flat major.
What it means
E-flat minor is the minor key with six flats in its key signature: B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, D-flat, G-flat, and C-flat. Its tonic is E-flat, and its relative major is G-flat major. On the circle of fifths it lies six steps on the flat side, close to where the sharp and flat sides meet. In the harmonic and melodic forms D is added as a raised seventh degree.
Musical use
E-flat minor is rarely chosen because its six accidentals make reading and playing harder. It appears mainly in piano and organ music, where the black keys lie well under the hand. In the first book of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, the prelude is in E-flat minor while the accompanying fugue is in D-sharp minor. The enharmonically equivalent D-sharp minor, with six sharps, is often written instead.
E-flat minor should be distinguished from E minor, which has only one sharp, and from G-flat major, its relative major with the same key signature but a brighter character. It also differs from D-sharp minor, which sounds the same on tempered instruments but is notated differently.
Performance practice
Practise E-flat minor at the piano first, where the scale and triads are easy to grasp on the black keys, and then read the music aloud by note name with all six flats. When bowing or singing, take care not to tune the lowered third degree, G-flat, too high.