Kabalevsky Cello concerto.

[Kriton]

Major is fine for happy ditties and cheesy hokum (...)

I'm amazed at what melancholic, deep, and monumental (to use a questionable word...) music has been composed in C Major. I'm thinking here of the Schubert cello quintet and Sibelius' 7th symphony. And those are just C Major examples; how about Schubert's last string quartet in G Major? Korngold's piano quintet in E Major?

It is true that a lot of 'celebratory' music is composed in major, but don't forget that we (Europeans and their American descendants) started to label the major mode as happy and the minor mode as sad, long after the major/minor concept came in use with composers and musicians. And then I'm not even talking about non-European cultures, who have been making 'happy' and 'sad' music for ages without using 'our' modes.

[Kriton]

Damn! Off topic again! Apologies...

[Alan Howe]

Plenty of Sturm und Drang drama in Rufinatscha 6 (in D) and Draeseke 3 (in C)!!

[JimL]

Chausson's symphony is another of those works. It's like he can't decide if he's writing in major or minor, constantly going back and forth. Drives my wife nuts.

IIRC (and it's been a while since I've given it a listen-to) Chausson's Symphony in B-flat has a slow introduction to the first movement in B-flat Minor, but the main body of the movement is in the major.  Usually, the convention is to label the movement by the key of the main body of the movement, not the introduction.  There are exceptions (i.e. Beethoven's Kreuzer Sonata), but that's the custom.

[JimL]

Who could forget Schumann's 2nd Symphony?  Surely C Major was never so tragic.

[Kriton]

Who could forget Schumann's 2nd Symphony? Surely C Major was never so tragic.

I could easily forget this Symphony here, even though it's one of my favourite pieces. It may have a sad and yearning slow movement (part of which is in minor, by the way), but nothing makes me happier than those horns playing C-C-C-G in octaves! The symphony is about illness and recovery, longing, and celebration. But I don't really consider it tragic.

[eschiss1]

Chausson's symphony is another of those works. It's like he can't decide if he's writing in major or minor, constantly going back and forth. Drives my wife nuts.

IIRC (and it's been a while since I've given it a listen-to) Chausson's Symphony in B-flat has a slow introduction to the first movement in B-flat Minor, but the main body of the movement is in the major.  Usually, the convention is to label the movement by the key of the main body of the movement, not the introduction.  There are exceptions (i.e. Beethoven's Kreuzer Sonata), but that's the custom.

The Kreutzer sonata is another, and the best-known I can think of, excellent example of a piece whose first movement main theme (and section) is in the subdominant (qv Bortkiewicz discussion earlier...)
Eric

[JimL]

Not really, Eric.  The introduction is in A Major.  The main theme of the first movement is in A Minor.  However, the second subject is in the dominant, E Major, instead of the relative major of C.

[eschiss1]

Not really, Eric.  The introduction is in A Major.  The main theme of the first movement is in A Minor.  However, the second subject is in the dominant, E Major, instead of the relative major of C.

Really? Was fairly sure the main theme of the first movement was in D minor, hence my statement- will have to go back and check- sorry about that. You're probably quite right.
Eric