In an advertisement in YouTube for composer Danny Elfman's master class viewable here the composer says:

When somebody starts talking about “this should be in such and such a key because such a key feels that way”, that’s bulls--t. You can turn any key into anything you want.

This is something that I've long suspected, and hearing someone who's recognized as "good at" intuiting how music sounds to the general public carries at least some weight.

Question: Has anyone put this to the test in some objective way? Is there any objective evidence that different keys "feel different" or have different moods?

I suppose subjects would have to be sorted in to those with and without perfect pitch to check for subconscious bias; if you definitely know what key a passage is in, you may potentially be influenced by that knowledge.

In an advertisement in YouTube for composer Danny Elfman's master class viewable here the composer says:

When somebody starts talking about “this should be in such and such a key because such a key feels that way”, that’s bulls--t. You can turn any key into anything you want.

This is something that I've long suspected, and hearing someone who's recognized as "good at" intuiting how music sounds to the general public carries at least some weight.

Question: Has anyone put this to the test in some objective way? Is there any objective evidence that different keys "feel different" or can impart different moods or feelings?

I suppose subjects would have to be sorted in to those with and without perfect pitch to check for subconscious bias; if you definitely know what key a passage is in, you may potentially be influenced by that knowledge.

note: A test of this is also challenging because as a passage played on various instruments or voices is transposed through its register the sound will change slowly, so a test for a key-dependent effect might compare nearby keys in order to minimize those effects.