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A♭ major or A-flat major is a major scale based on A-flat, consisting of the pitches A♭, B♭, C, D♭,...

A♭ major or A-flat major is a major scale based on A-flat, consisting of the pitches A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats (see below: Scales and keys). Its relative minor is F minor, and its parallel minor is A-flat minor. The key is said to have a peaceful, serene feel, and was used quite often by Franz Schubert. Twenty-four of Frédéric Chopin's piano pieces are in A-flat major, more than any other key. Beethoven chose A-flat major as the key of the slow movement for most of his C minor works, a practice which Anton Bruckner imitated in his first two C minor symphonies and also Antonín Dvořák in his only C minor symphony. Since A-flat major was not often chosen as the main key for orchestral works of the 18th Century, passages or movements in the key often retained the timpani settings of the preceding movement. For example, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor has the timpani set to C and G for the first movement. With hand tuned timpani, there is no time to retune the timpani to A flat and E flat for the slow second movement in A flat. In Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 in C minor, however, the timpani are retuned between the first movement in C minor and the