F-sharp minor
F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F♯, consisting of the pitches F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major).
Relative key | A major |
---|---|
Parallel key | F-sharp major |
Dominant key | C-sharp minor |
Subdominant | B minor |
Component pitches | |
F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, E |
The F-sharp natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The F-sharp harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
Music in F-sharp minor
Very few symphonies are written in this key, Haydn's Farewell Symphony being one famous example. George Frederick Bristow and Dora Pejačević also wrote symphonies in this key.
The few concerti written in this key are usually written for the composer himself to play, including Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1, Scriabin's Piano Concerto, Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 1, Vieuxtemps's Violin Concerto No. 2, and Koussevitzky's Double Bass Concerto.
In addition to the Farewell Symphony, Haydn's Piano Trio No. 40 (Hob. XV:26) and String Quartet Op. 50, No. 4 are in F-sharp minor.
The slow movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier piano sonata is in F-sharp minor.
Handel set the sixth of his eight harpsichord suites of 1720 in F-sharp minor. Aside from a prelude and fugue from each of the two books of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Bach's only other work in F-sharp minor is the Toccata BWV 910. Mozart's only composition in this key is the second movement to his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major.[1]
Notable classical compositions in F-sharp minor
- Charles-Valentin Alkan: Concerto for Solo Piano: Allegretto alla barbaresca
- Johannes Brahms
- Frédéric Chopin
- Ernst von Dohnányi: Suite in F-sharp minor
- George Enescu: Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 24, No. 1 (1924)
- Gabriel Fauré: Pavane, Op. 50
- César Franck
- Joseph Haydn
- Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 1
- Prelude in F-sharp minor No. 1, Op. 23
- Maurice Ravel: Sonatine
- Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor, D 571 (incomplete)
- Robert Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 11
- Alexander Scriabin
- Piano Concerto, Op. 20
- Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 23
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- Igor Stravinsky: Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor (1903–04)
- Georg Philipp Telemann: Fantasy for Solo Flute No. 10
- Henryk Wieniawski: Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 14
References
- Hopkins, Antony (1964). Talking About Concertos. London: Heinemann. p. 30.
Further reading
- Anthony Morris, "Symphonies, Numbers and Keys" in Bob's Poetry Magazine, III.3, March 2006.