Most tended to see D major, for example, as a bright, pure key for bright feelings. It was, wrote one theorist, “the perfect key for funny pieces and joyful dances . . . The key of triumph, of Hallelujahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing.”20 Theorists’ responses to G minor are more varied and flowery: “It is suited to frenzy, despair, agitation, etc.”; “the lament of a noble matron, who no longer has her youthful beauty.”21
Different keys
