Bright and Powerful E Major

It’s been called “the brightest and most powerful key” that expresses “joy, magnificence, splendor, and the highest brilliancy.” E Major can sound shimmering, as violins can play their highest string without putting a finger on the fingerboard – but Beethoven never wrote a symphony in the key, and some of the pieces with great E major melodies were middle and last movements of pieces in other keys.

Can you name these works? Click and drag over the white space below to highlight the answers:

1. Ponchielli: ‘Dance of the Hours’ from La Gioconda
2. Rossini: William Tell Overture
3. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto, mvt. 3
4. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no. 2, mvt 2
5. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5, finale
6. Wagner: Tannhauser Overture
7. Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
8. Grieg: ‘Morning Mood’ from Peer Gynt
9. Chopin: Etude, Op. 10, no. 3 ‘Tristesse’
10. Vivaldi: ‘Spring’ from the Four Seasons
11. Rossini: William Tell Overture