Despite this, when he came to orchestrate Carl Maria von Weber's piano piece Invitation to the Dance in 1841, he transposed it from D-flat to D major, to give the strings a more manageable key and to produce a brighter sound. Hector Berlioz called the key 'majestic' in his 1856 Grand Traité d'Instrumentation et d'Orchestration modernes, while having a much different opinion of its enharmonic counterpart, calling it 'Less vague and more elegant'. In music for the harp, D-flat major is preferred enharmonically not only because harp strings are more resonant in the flat position and the key has fewer accidentals, but also because modulation to the dominant key is easier (by putting the G pedal in the natural position, whereas there is no double-sharp position in which to put the F pedal for G-sharp major). Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony likewise switches to C-sharp minor for a while for the significant section in the slow movement.ĭ-flat major is enharmonic to C-sharp major. Claude Debussy also switches from D-flat major to C-sharp minor in the significant section in his famous ' Clair de lune'.

Ferdinand Ries' third concerto likewise switches to D-flat major for a while for the return of the second theme in the first movement.

3, primarily in C-sharp minor, he switches to D-flat major for the middle section for the opposite reason. 15 in D-flat major ('Raindrop'), Frédéric Chopin switches from D-flat major to C-sharp minor for the middle section in the parallel minor, while in his Fantaisie-Impromptu and Scherzo No. (The same enharmonic situation occurs with the keys of A-flat major and G-sharp minor).įor example, in his Prelude No. Therefore, D-flat major is often used as the parallel major for C-sharp minor. C-sharp major, the enharmonic equivalent to D-flat major, has a similar problem as it contains seven sharps. Its parallel minor, D-flat minor, is usually replaced by C-sharp minor, since D-flat minor features a B ( B-double-flat) in its key signature making it impractical to use. Audio playback is not supported in your browser.

D major scale b flat major scale