B

B, second note of the musical alphabet and the seventh degree of the "natural scale" of C. In Germany and Scandinavia, however, the alphabetical name for this note is not B but H, while B stands for B flat, a fact which is important to remember in dealing with German music, German writings on music, and so on. Thus in German nomenclature Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony is not in B minor but in H moll (minor), while Brahms’s Second Pianoforte Concerto stands as being not in B flat but in B.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.