F-sharp major
F-sharp major is a major scale based on F-sharp. Its key signature has six sharps.
| ||
| Relative key | D♯ minor | |
|---|---|---|
| Parallel key | F♯ minor | |
| Dominant key | ||
| Subdominant | ||
| Notes in this scale | ||
| F♯, G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, E♯, F♯ | ||
Its relative minor is D♯ minor, and its enharmonic equivalent is G♭ major.
Use of this key
changeThis key is not used often in orchestral music except to modulate. It is used more often in piano music, like Scriabin's sonatas. When piano music in this key needs to be arranged for orchestra, sometimes it is better to change it to F or G major. If F-sharp major needs to be used, transposing instruments in B flat should have their music written in A-flat major, not G-sharp major.
The Presentation of the Rose scene in Act Two of Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier is written in F-sharp major. F-sharp major is the key of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Op. 78, of Chopin's Barcarolle, of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, of Mahler's unfinished Tenth Symphony, Erich Korngold's Symphony Op. 40, and Scriabin's Fourth Sonata.
In a few scores, the F-sharp major key signature in the bass clef is written with the sharp for the A on the top line.
