F minor
| |
Relative key | A♭ major |
---|---|
Parallel key | F major |
Dominant key | C minor |
Subdominant | B♭ minor |
Component pitches | |
F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭ |
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, and E♭. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A♭ major and its parallel major is F major.
The F natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The F harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
Music in F minor
Three famous pieces in the key of F minor are Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Haydn's Symphony No. 49, La Passione.
Glenn Gould once said if he could be any key, he would be F minor, because "it's rather dour, halfway between complex and stable, between upright and lascivious, between gray and highly tinted... There is a certain obliqueness."[1]
Helmholtz once described F minor as harrowing and melancholy. Schubart described this key as "Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave".
Notable compositions
- Antonio Vivaldi
- "Winter" from The Four Seasons, RV 297
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 2/1
- Piano Sonata No. 23 (Appassionata), Op. 57
- String Quartet No. 11 "Serioso", Op. 95
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Frédéric Chopin
- Charles-Valentin Alkan
- Franz Liszt
- Franz Schubert
- Fantasia in F minor
- Impromptu No. 1, Op. 142
- Johannes Brahms
- Piano Quintet Op. 34
- Piano Sonata No. 3 Op. 5
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Anton Bruckner
- Alexander Borodin
- Paul Dukas
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- Symphony No. 1
- String Quartet No. 11 Op. 122
E♯ minor
| |
Relative key | G♯ major (A♭ major) |
---|---|
Parallel key | E♯ major (F major) |
Dominant key | B♯ minor (C minor) |
Subdominant | A♯ minor (B♭ minor) |
Enharmonic | F minor |
Component pitches | |
E♯, F |
E♯ minor is a theoretical key based on the musical note E♯ and consisting of the pitches E♯, F
The E♯ natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The E♯ harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
Its relative major is G♯ major, which is usually replaced by A♭ major. Its parallel major, E♯ major, is usually replaced by F major, due to the presence of 4 double-sharps in the E♯ major scale causing it to be one of the more impractical key signatures in music to use. Although E♯ minor is usually notated as F minor, it could be used on a local level, such as bars 17~22 in Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C♯ major. (E♯ minor is the mediant minor key of C♯ major.)
See also
Notes
- ↑ Cathering Meng, Tonight's the Night (Apostrophe Books, 2007): 21
External links
Media related to F minor at Wikimedia Commons
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The table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale. Minor scales are written in lower case. |