Did O Fortuna sound ominous back in 1936, or have we been conditioned to believe it so by its use in hundreds of movies to signify approaching doom?
And you’re not a proper mad scientist/eccentric masked psychopath unless you have an organ on which to play J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Mino.
All bugle calls are necessarily in major keys - the harmonic series doesn’t offer even a limited alternative.
Well, you can kinda sorta eke out a minor tonality if you make E the tonic, but when you hit that C, your brain is going to want to interpret that as major. That said, have a second bugle drone an E, and you can force a minor tonality on it. (But that really wouldn’t be a bugle call then, I think.)
E and G’s all you have really - I mean, I thought of including this nitpick myself but figured if you can’t even make a tonic triad then you’re in the realms of trivia.
Sure, it’s definitely trivial. But if you are allowed that second bugle with an E drone, you can give it a clear minor tonality. C’mon, we’re supposed to think outside the box. 
The lyrics are rather doomy.
As a composer, maybe I should experiment with this in my next composition. 
A lot of the local music I listen to is pentatonic, which always sounds at least a little wistful to me, but probably not to those who grew up with it. Do its intervals have anything in common with minor keys?
I actually always thought they were kind of whiny and emo.
Y’know, I looked at the thread title and said to myself, I said, “That’s a good question!” Little did I know…
I know I do, and did many years ago.
Another good question! Glad I asked it! 
Me, too. That might have been my original trigger.
Well, do you know who liked it a whole lot? That adds a whole 'nother level of ominousness. :eek:
I will, Bernd, though I’m leaning toward TheSeaOtter’s learned behavior as an obvious explanation. Further investigation into the effects of minor keys in other cultures, for instance, could falsify your hypothesis in a stroke, and I look forward to reading about the details of your experiment’s methodology.
Do you mean the melody is based on a pentatonic scale? If so, the minor pentatonic scale could be thought of as a minor 11th arppegio; root, minor third, perfect fourth (11), perfect fifth, minor seventh, octave. Lot of blues solos begin with that.
Even if it is learned behavior, I’d be interested in knowing how it is learned. Particularly with the dearth of popular music in minor keys, you’d think there’d be many who didn’t learn it early enough for it to take hold. That is, unless there’s something more than just hearing sad lyrics put to minor keys and happy lyrics put to major ones.
A new video from PBS Idea Channel: Is Sad Music Actually Sad?
The reading list seems interesting - I’ll be starting on it tomorrow.
Yes, that’s what I meant. If I hadn’t felt two sidetracks were excessive, I was going to ask about the blues too. Thanks.
Bernd, some notes:
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“Vibrating Molecules and the Secret of their Feelings” I thought it was a bad translation that was inadvertently funny. Nope, that’s what it is in German, too. I hope you were trying to be whimsical.
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Next, I guessed it was pseudo-scientific claptrap and the paper would be loads of fun. Yes to the claptrap but no to the fun. I know little about music theory but the thing is that the question “Why are minor keys so sad?” has probably little to do with music theory and probably lots to do with either biology or culture. This is a “nature vs nurture” question and, as always with that question, it’s a little bit of both. Music theory simply defines it.
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Regarding your study and its methodology, I was sad to find that all you said about it was, “Numerous tests with over 2,000 volunteers in the whole world have been carried out and confirmed the general validity of this theory.” With no further description I can only assume that your so-called “study” consisted of asking the Vienna Boys Choir if this sounds sad and this sounds happy.
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Google Translate and Babelfish can get you in the ball park, but a final translation requires the help of someone who knows what you are talking about and speaks both the starting and destination languages. I’m one out of three there and have enough of my own “translating German when I don’t really speak it” that I’m not working on already to help.
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Thanks to that guy who also liked “O Fortuna,” the Nietzschean use of “will” triggers unfortunate connections in the minds of many. Just something to be understanding about.
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Another tip for if you want to be taken seriously: Get a new photo for your CV. One that looks less like a mug shot. And shave. Guys our age need all the help we can get looking youthful and vibrant and if you got rid of the white in your beard you’d look ten years younger.
Not sure what you mean here. A majority of recent (last 10 years or so) Top 40 hits are minor. Minor keys are everywhere in pop music.
ETA: Here’s a study:
But-but-but now he will NEVER explain his methodology.
Er, not like I was expecting him to, but my router was down and I missed his second post before it was deleted.
Well the major more positive minor more negative all else being equal thing is at least present even in very young children. This book also argues that emotional connotation in music transcends cultures.
Wow, my linking skills are at an all-time low. This was supposed to be the link.