D-flat minor

D♭ minor

Relative key	F♭ major
Parallel key	D♭ major
Dominant key
Subdominant
Notes in this scale
D♭, E♭, F♭, G♭, A♭, B, C♭, D♭

D-flat minor is a theoretical key based on the musical note D♭. Its key signature has six flats and one double flat.^[1]

Because it has so many flats, D♭ minor is usually written as its enharmonic equivalent of C♯ minor. For example, Mahler's thematic motif "der kleine Appell" ("call to order") from his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies is written in D♭ minor in Symphony No.4, but in his Symphony No. 5 it is in C♯ minor. In the Adagio of his Symphony No. 9 a solo bassoon theme appears first in D♭ minor, but comes back two more times notated in C♯ minor. The Adagio of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8, also has phrases that are tonally in D♭ minor but written as C♯ minor.^[2][3][4][5]

1. ↑ Thomas Busby (1840). "D Flat Minor". A dictionary of three thousand musical terms. revised by J.A. Hamilton. London: D'Almaine and Co. p. 55.
2. ↑ Ernst Levy (1985). A Theory of Harmony. SUNY Press. p. 62. ISBN 0873959930.
3. ↑ James L. Zychowicz (2005). "Structural Considerations". Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Oxford University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0198162065.
4. ↑ Eero Tarasti (1996). "Music history revisited". In Eero Tarasti, Paul Forsell, and Richard Littlefield (ed.). Musical Semiotics in Growth. Indiana University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 0253329493.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
5. ↑ Theodor W. Adorno (1992). Mahler: A Musical Physiognomy. Translated by Edmund Jephcott. University of Chicago Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN 0226007693.