# What does 'as-dur' mean in classical music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 13, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-as-dur-mean-in-classical-music/964367 "2022-05-13T15:07:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-as-dur-mean-in-classical-music/964367/1 "2022-05-13T15:07:36Z")
I was trying to find Chopin’s _Aeolean Harp_ and as to not get buried in wind harp sounds I added the ‘as dur’ as I know that was part of the title. Lo and behold there are other songs with ‘as-dur’ in the title. I think it means the song is in A flat major but I’m not sure and if that is true why would A flat major have a special term in the title? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-as-dur-mean-in-classical-music/964367/2 "2022-05-13T15:33:21Z")
It’s the German word for “major”. “Moll” is the word for minor. G-Dur would be G Major. B moll would be B minor, etc. As for why it’s in the title…I dunno. Helps the musicians get the key signature right off the bat i guess. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-as-dur-mean-in-classical-music/964367/3 "2022-05-13T15:48:41Z")
If you’re looking for the sheet music go to [https://imslp.org/wiki/Main\_Page](https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-as-dur-mean-in-classical-music/964367/4 "2022-05-13T15:55:23Z")
then does the ‘s’ in As represent the flat? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-as-dur-mean-in-classical-music/964367/5 "2022-05-13T16:13:12Z")
Yes. Here’s a Wikipedia article with translations in German and many other languages > **[Key signature names and translations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signature_names_and_translations)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > When a musical key or key signature is referred to in a language other than English, that language may use the usual notation used in English (namely the letters A to G, along with translations of the words sharp, flat, major and minor in that language): languages which use the English system include Irish, Welsh, Hindi, Japanese (based on katakana in iroha order), Korean (based on hangul in ganada order), Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Filipino, Swah... ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-as-dur-mean-in-classical-music/964367/6 "2022-05-13T16:39:31Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > As for why it’s in the title…I dunno. Helps the musicians get the key signature right off the bat i guess. I don’t listen to a ton of classical music, but this seems to be a common practice within the genre. Classical European composers tended not to give individual pieces a unique “name” like we would think of a modern pop song, but rather the “title” was simply a description of what it was. Mozart wrote dozens of preludes and fugues, and many ended up with the same “title.” He has four different pieces titled “_Prelude and Fugue in A minor_.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-as-dur-mean-in-classical-music/964367/7 "2022-05-13T18:11:07Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Mozart wrote dozens of preludes and fugues, and many ended up with the same “title.” He has four different pieces titled “ _Prelude and Fugue in A minor_ .” When I think of preludes and fugues, I think of Johann Sebastian Bach’s [Well-Tempered Clavier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well-Tempered_Clavier), two sets of preludes and fugues which each have one prelude and fugue in each possible key. In that particular case, specifying the key definitely does help to identify which particular one you mean. But, to my layman’s ears, knowing the key that a piece of music was written in doesn’t help me much.