A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/G
G. The fifth note of the natural scale—the dominant of C, the relative major of E minor. It is sol in French and in solfaing. It has F♯ for its signature. G minor has B♭ and E♭ for the signature, and is the relative minor of B flat major. G gives its name to the treble clef, the sign for which is nothing but a corruption of the letter. The Greek G gives its name to the gamut or scale.
As to its use in composition—two of Haydn's 12 Grand Symphonies are in G, and there are several others of note in the same key ('Oxford,' 'Letter V,' etc.), but there is no remarkable one by Mozart, and not one by Beethoven, nor by Schubert, Schumann, or Mendelssohn. Of Beethoven's 16 Quartets one (No. 2), and of his 11 Overtures one (Ruins of Athens), the Sonata op. 31, No. 1, two Violin Sonatas, and the P.F. Concerto No. 4, do something to restore the balance, but it is singular how much he avoids the key.
G minor has Mozart's Symphony and Mendelssohn's Concerto to ennoble it.