Relative key | A-flat major |
---|---|
Parallel key | F major |
Dominant key | C minor |
Subdominant | B-flat 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-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp minor, has eight sharps, including the double sharp F
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
Famous pieces in the key of F minor include Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Ballade No. 4, Haydn's Symphony No. 49, La Passione and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.
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]
Hermann von Helmholtz once described F minor as harrowing and melancholy. Christian Schubart described this key as "Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave".[2]
See also: List of symphonies in F minor |
Relative key | G-sharp major (theoretical) enharmonic: A-flat major |
---|---|
Parallel key | E-sharp major (11 sharps, does not exist) enharmonic: F major |
Dominant key | B-sharp minor (9 sharps, does not exist) enharmonic: C minor |
Subdominant | A-sharp minor |
Enharmonic | F minor |
Component pitches | |
E♯, F![]() |
E-sharp minor is a theoretical key based on the musical note E♯, consisting of the pitches E♯, F
The E-sharp natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The E-sharp harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:
Although E-sharp minor is usually notated as F minor, it could be used on a local level, such as bars 17 to 22 in Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C-sharp major. (E-sharp minor is the mediant minor key of C-sharp major.)