View source for F-sharp minor

{{Short description|Minor scale based on the note F♯}}
{{Infobox musical scale
| name=F-sharp minor<br><score>{ \magnifyStaff #3/2 \omit Score.TimeSignature \key fis \minor s16 \clef F \key fis \minor s^"" }</score>
| relative=[[A major]]
| parallel=[[F-sharp major]]
| dominant=[[C-sharp minor]]
| subdominant=[[B minor]]
| first_pitch=F{{music|sharp}}
| second_pitch=G{{music|sharp}}
| third_pitch=A
| fourth_pitch=B
| fifth_pitch=C{{music|sharp}}
| sixth_pitch=D
| seventh_pitch=E
}}

'''F-sharp minor''' is a [[minor scale]] based on [[F♯ (musical note)|F{{music|sharp}}]], consisting of the pitches F{{music|sharp}}, [[G♯ (musical note)|G{{music|sharp}}]], [[A (musical note)|A]], [[B (musical note)|B]], [[C♯ (musical note)|C{{music|sharp}}]], [[D (musical note)|D]], and [[E (musical note)|E]]. Its [[key signature]] has three [[Sharp (music)|sharps]]. Its [[relative key|relative major]] is [[A major]] and its [[parallel key|parallel major]] is [[F-sharp major]] (or enharmonically [[G-flat major]]).

The F-sharp [[natural minor scale]] is:
{{block indent|<score sound raw>
\header { tagline = ##f }
scale = \relative a { \key fis \minor \omit Score.TimeSignature
  fis'^"F♯ natural minor scale" gis a b cis d e fis e d cis b a gis fis2 \clef F \key fis \minor }
\score { { << \cadenzaOn \scale \context NoteNames \scale >> } \layout { } \midi { } }
</score>}}

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The F-sharp [[Harmonic minor scale|harmonic minor]] and [[Melodic minor scale|melodic minor scales]] are:

{{block indent|<score sound raw>
\header { tagline = ##f }
scale = \relative a { \key fis \minor \omit Score.TimeSignature
  fis'^"F♯ harmonic minor scale" gis a b cis d eis fis eis! d cis b a gis fis2 \clef F \key fis \minor }
\score { { << \cadenzaOn \scale \context NoteNames \scale >> } \layout { } \midi { } }
</score>}}
{{block indent|<score sound raw>
\header { tagline = ##f }
scale = \relative a { \key fis \minor \omit Score.TimeSignature
  fis'^"F♯ melodic minor scale (ascending and descending)" gis a b cis dis eis fis e? d? cis b a gis fis2 \clef F \key fis \minor }
\score { { << \cadenzaOn \scale \context NoteNames \scale >> } \layout { } \midi { } }
</score>}}

==Scale degree chords==
The [[scale degree]] chords of F-sharp minor are:
* [[Tonic (music)|Tonic]] – F-sharp minor
* [[Supertonic]] – [[Diminished triad|G-sharp diminished]]
* [[Mediant]] – [[A major]]
* [[Subdominant]] – [[B minor]]
* [[Dominant (music)|Dominant]] – [[C-sharp minor]]
* [[Submediant]] – [[D major]]
* [[Subtonic]] – [[E major]]

== Music in F-sharp minor ==
Very few symphonies are written in this key, [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]]'s "[[Symphony No. 45 (Haydn)|Farewell Symphony]]" being one famous example. [[George Frederick Bristow]]<ref>[[George Frederick Bristow|Bristow, George Frederick]]. ''Symphonie in F# minor, op. 36''. August 1858. {{LCCN|2006563805}}</ref> and [[Dora Pejačević]] wrote symphonies in this key.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prom 40: Martin Helmchen plays Brahms |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/erjqwh |website=[[BBC Music]] Events|date=14 August 2023}}</ref>

The few concertos written in this key are usually written for the composer himself to play, including [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto No. 1]], [[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin]]'s [[Piano Concerto (Scriabin)|Piano Concerto]], [[Henryk Wieniawski|Wieniawski]]'s [[Violin Concerto No. 1 (Wieniawski)|Violin Concerto No. 1]], [[Henri Vieuxtemps|Vieuxtemps]]'s Violin Concerto No. 2, [[Bernhard Romberg]]'s Cello Concerto Op. 30 and [[Serge Koussevitzky|Koussevitzky]]'s Double Bass Concerto.

In addition to the "Farewell Symphony", Haydn's [[Piano Trio No. 40 (Haydn)|Piano Trio No. 40]] (Hob. XV:26) and the fourth quartet from the [[String Quartets, Op. 50 (Haydn)#Opus 50, No. 4|'Prussian' Quartets]] are in F-sharp minor. 

More prominent keyboard pieces written in F-sharp minor include [[George Frideric Handel|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, [[Jan Ladislav Dussek|Dussek]]'s Sonata Op. 61 ('Élégie Harmonique'), [[Ignaz Moscheles]]'s Sonate mélancolique, Op. 49, [[Hélène de Montgeroult]]'s Piano Sonata Op. 5/3, Schumann's [[Piano Sonata No. 1 (Schumann)|Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor]] (1833–35), Liszt's [[Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2|Hungarian Rhapsody No.2]] second movement "Friska", [[Clara Schumann]]'s Prelude and Fugue ICS 18, Chopin's [[Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44 (Chopin)|Polonaise in F{{music|sharp}} minor]], Scriabin's [[Piano Sonata No. 3 (Scriabin)|Third Sonata]], and Ravel's [[Sonatine (Ravel)|''Sonatine'']]. The [[slow movement (music)|slow movement]] of Beethoven's [[Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)|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]]'', [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]'s only other work in F-sharp minor is the [[toccata]] [[Toccatas for Keyboard (Bach)|BWV 910]]. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s only composition in this key is the second movement to his [[Piano Concerto No. 23 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto No. 23]] in [[A major]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hopkins|first=Antony|author-link=Antony Hopkins|title=Talking About Concertos|page=30|location=London|year=1964|publisher=Heinemann}}</ref>

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 [[Humoresques (Dvořák)|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.

== Notable classical compositions in F-sharp minor ==<!--
 "Notable" means the piece (not the composer) is sufficiently notable to have its own page to wikilink to (i.e. with more info than just a mention that it exists). -->
{{See also|List of symphonies in F-sharp minor}}

{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}
*[[Charles-Valentin Alkan]] 
** [[Concerto for Solo Piano (Alkan)|Concerto for Solo Piano: Allegretto alla barbaresca]]
*[[Johannes Brahms]]
**[[Piano Sonata No. 2 (Brahms)|Piano Sonata No. 2]], Op. 2
**[[Hungarian Dances (Brahms)|Hungarian Dances Nos. 5 & 17]] (original version for 4-hands )
*[[Norbert Burgmüller]]
**[[Piano Concerto (Burgmüller)|Piano Concerto Op. 1 in F-sharp minor]]
*[[Frédéric Chopin]]
**[[Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44 (Chopin)|Polonaise in F-sharp minor]], Op. 44
**[[Nocturnes, Op. 48 (Chopin)#Nocturne in F-sharp minor, Op. 48, No. 2|Nocturne, Op. 48, No. 2]]
**[[Mazurkas, Op. 59 (Chopin)#Mazurka in F-sharp minor.2C Op. 59.2C No. 3|Mazurka, Op. 59, No. 3]]
**[[Preludes (Chopin)|Prelude No. 8 in F-sharp minor]], Op. 28/8
*[[Louis Couperin]]
**[[Bauyn manuscript]]: Pavane in F-sharp minor
* [[Ernst von Dohnányi]]
**[[Suite in F-sharp minor (Dohnányi)|Suite in F-sharp minor]]
*[[George Enescu]]
**[[Piano Sonata No. 1 (Enescu)|Piano Sonata No. 1]], Op. 24, No. 1 (1924)
*[[Gabriel Fauré]]
**[[Pavane (Fauré)|Pavane]], Op. 50
*[[César Franck]]
**''[[Symphonic Variations (Franck)|Symphonic Variations]]''
**''[[Les Djinns (Franck)|Les Djinns]]''
*[[Joseph Haydn]]
**[[Symphony No. 45 (Haydn)|Symphony No. 45]] (''Farewell'')
**  [[Piano Trio No. 40 (Haydn)|Piano Trio No. 40, Hob. XV:26]]
*[[Johann Nepomuk Hummel]]
** [[Piano Sonata No. 5 (Hummel)|Piano Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp minor, Op. 81]]
*[[Franz Liszt]]
**[[Friska]] movement of [[Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2]]
*[[Mykola Lysenko]]
**Elegie Op. 41/3 
* [[Felix Mendelssohn]]
** [[Fantasie, Op. 28 (Mendelssohn)|Fantasy in F-sharp minor, Op. 28]], ("Sonate Éccossaise")
*[[Sergei Rachmaninoff]]
**[[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto No. 1]], Op. 1
**[[Prelude in F-sharp minor (Rachmaninoff)|Prelude in F-sharp minor No. 1]], Op. 23
*[[Maurice Ravel]]
**''[[Sonatine (Ravel)|Sonatine]]''
*[[Franz Schubert]]
**[[Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor, D 571 (Schubert)|Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor, D 571]] (incomplete)
*[[Robert Schumann]]
**[[Piano Sonata No. 1 (Schumann)|Piano Sonata No. 1]], Op. 11
*[[Alexander Scriabin]]
**[[Piano Concerto (Scriabin)|Piano Concerto]], Op. 20
**[[Piano Sonata No. 3 (Scriabin)| Piano Sonata No. 3]], Op. 23
*[[Dmitri Shostakovich]]
**[[24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)#Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in F-sharp minor|Prelude and Fugue No. 8]], Op. 87
**[[String Quartet No. 7 (Shostakovich)|String Quartet No. 7]], Op. 108
*[[Igor Stravinsky]]
**[[Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor (Stravinsky)|Piano Sonata]] (1903–04)
*[[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]
**[[Danse des petits cygnes|Danse des petits cygnes]] (from his ballet [[Swan Lake|Swan Lake]])
*[[Georg Philipp Telemann]]
**[[12 Fantasias for Solo Flute|Fantasy for Solo Flute No. 10]]
*[[Henryk Wieniawski]]
**[[Violin Concerto No. 1 (Wieniawski)|Violin Concerto No. 1]], Op. 14
{{Div col end}}
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==Notable Songs==
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==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite magazine|author=Anthony Morris|title=Symphonies, Numbers and Keys|magazine=Bob's Poetry Magazine|date=March 2006|volume=III|issue=3|pages=4–21|url=http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs03Mr.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928044823/http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs03Mr.pdf|archive-date=28 September 2007|ref=none}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|F-sharp minor}}
*{{IMSLP|work=Category:F-sharp_minor|cname=Compositions in F-sharp minor}}
{{Circle of fifths}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:F-Sharp Minor}}
[[Category:Musical keys]]
[[Category:Minor scales]]
[[Category:Compositions in F-sharp minor| ]]