F-sharp minor

F-sharp minor

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

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).

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:

The scale degree chords of F-sharp minor are:

• Tonic – F-sharp minor
• Supertonic – G-sharp diminished
• Mediant – A major
• Subdominant – B minor
• Dominant – C-sharp minor
• Submediant – D major
• Subtonic – E major

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.^{[1] [2]}

The few concertos 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, Bernhard Romberg's Cello Concerto Op. 30 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.

More prominent keyboard pieces written in F-sharp minor include Handel's Keyboard Suite HWV 431, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Fantasia H. 300, Carel Anton Fodor's Sonata Op. 2/2, Muzio Clementi's Piano Sonata Op. 25/5, Dussek's Sonata Op. 61 ('Élégie Harmonique'), Ignaz Moscheles' Sonate mélancolique, Op. 49, Hélène de Montgeroult's Piano Sonata Op. 5/3, Schumann's Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor (1833-35), Clara Schumann's Prelude and Fugue ICS 18, Chopin's Polonaise in F♯ minor, Scriabin's Third Sonata, and Ravel's Sonatine. The slow movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier piano sonata is written in this key.

Aside from a prelude and fugue from each of the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier, 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.^[3]

F-sharp minor is sometimes used as the parallel minor of G-flat major, especially since G-flat major's real parallel minor, G-flat minor, would have nine flats including two double-flats. For example, in the middle section of his seventh Humoresque in G-flat major, Antonín Dvořák switches from G-flat major to F-sharp minor for the middle section in the parallel minor.

• Anthony Morris (March 2006). "Symphonies, Numbers and Keys" (PDF). Bob's Poetry Magazine. Vol. III, no. 3. pp. 4–21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2007.

• Media related to F-sharp minor at Wikimedia Commons
• Compositions in F-sharp minor: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project