This is our second story in our series on the characteristics of musical keys. We started with the “people’s key,” C major. From there it’s an easy skip to D, the root of today’s subject, the “saddest ...

Pianita number 17 is a short, haunting piece for the piano. Set in the D minor key, its poignant chords and softly ascending arpeggios convey a sense of lost love, yet with enough novelty — dissonant ...