Talk:F-sharp major

message: its a easy and a fun note.....especially on the flute
:For keyboard players, F# major can be regarded as a remote key relative to the "natural" key of C for keyboard instruments.
Perhaps a discussion of the concept of a remote key is appropriate here? -- Karada 21:26, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: F# major is remote from C major because it is on the other side of the circle of fifths. My problem with the line above is that piano players are taught fingering for all 24 major and minor keys (or at least I was). Sure, the keys on the "northern hemisphere" on the circle of fifths are used more often, but no halfway decent pianist can complain that a key is too "remote" for him the way a wind player has the right to. Volunteer Sibelius Salesman 19:37, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

message: However, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's symphony has gained in number of recordings and performances. And away from symphonies, Dmitri Shostakovich's 14th quartet while played less often than some of the rest of his cycle shouldn't be omitted either; likewise the 24th of Beethoven's piano sonatas, as noted above...
(and Domenico Scarlatti's Allegro Kirkpatrick no. 319.)
But the Rachmaninoff is irrelevant to keys of works- the last bars of many works in F-sharp minor after the classical era (and the whole concluding section of the Farewell symphony by Haydn, for another example...), not just the Rachmaninoff first concerto, end in major; it's more and more usual...
(Though keys of sections - as with the Liszt examples, yes-  or of movements- well, the slow movement of Haydn's op. 76/5 quartet is a notable example here...)
(In the "notable, by notable composers, category but not standard" category one can fit works like Hubert Parry's piano concerto, Nikolai Medtner's sonate-ballade op. 27 (1912-4) ...  The key is  underused, if not as much so as eg A flat minor...  Schissel | Sound the Note! 22:49, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Standard repertoire... probably

message: It is true that Scriabin used this key a number of times, and it seems likely it was one of his very favourite keys.  But I think mentioning that two of his sonatas are in this key is rather questionable.
I don't dispute no. 4, which, despite showing the beginnings of his style evolving away from tonality, is undisputably in this key: very emphatically in the last two pages, in fact; a little ambiguously in the first movement.
But I strongly question Sonata no. 5, despite its beginning with a 6-sharp key signature, and often being labelled as in F# major on record covers.  Consider: the very opening is actually notated in the wrong key signature, because it has naturals in it consistently that indicate the Locrian mode in D#: if this passage were given a 4-sharp key signature, it would not have a single accidental in it.  Then, after that, the slow part of the introduction is sort of centred around F#, but so chromatic as to be very vague.  Then, with the first subject, it centres more firmly around F#, but there is not a single F# major triad in the start of it, and it soon moves away from this key by using accidentals; parts of it have a generalized modal feel to it rather than a firm F# tonality.  The recapitulation does a similar thing to this theme, but in B, not F#.  The second subject is in Bb major, then Eb major in the recapitulation.  The 3-flat signature is the one the piece ends in; but the coda moves towards Eb Locrian, then (still continuing the 3-flat signature, but cancelled constantly by masses of sharps), the last bars are similar to the very beginning, once again in D# Locrian, and should have a 4-sharp signature.
So, in short, I think this is a very weak candidate for the key of F# major.  Despite its even more advanced chromaticism, "Prometheus: The Poem of Fire" is a better example of F# major, even ending on a pure F#-major triad. M.J.E. 03:03, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Scriabin's use of F# major - Sonata 5 dubious. 

message: For orchestration of piano music, some theorists recommend transposing the music to F major or G major. If F-sharp major must absolutely be used, one should take care that B-flat wind instruments be notated in A-flat major, rather than G-sharp major. Where available, instruments in A could be used instead, giving a transposed key of A major.
This is actually true to an extent. While it isn't explicitly stated, it seems that a lot of musicians do have the same opinion and tend not to disagree (at least in my experience), yet in the end it seems to be based on opinions, despite that most orchestral instruments indeed have a hard time playing in this key. 
As for Wind instruments, it is specifically for non-A Clarinets, English horn, or any instrument whose transposition is a Flat key. But in the end, it just seems like an advice for orchestration and it is better suited in other places. 123.194.150.216 (talk) 04:31, 28 August 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Citation needed line: 

message: "This was the best enharmonic keys of F-sharp major and G-flat major has the same number of sharps and flats!!!". Bad sentence  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.156.155.130 (talk) 20:47, 12 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  The beginning