G-sharp major
{ \new Staff \with{ \magnifyStaff #3/2 } << \time 2/16 \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f { \clef treble \key gis \major s16 \clef bass \key gis \major s16 } >> }
Relative keyE-sharp minor (theoretical)
enharmonic: F minor
Parallel keyG-sharp minor
Dominant keyD-sharp major (theoretical)
enharmonic: E-flat major
SubdominantC-sharp major
enharmonic: D-flat major
EnharmonicA-flat major
Component pitches
G♯, A♯, B♯, C♯, D♯, E♯, F
double sharp

G-sharp major is a theoretical key based on the musical note G♯, consisting of the pitches G♯, A♯, B♯, C♯, D♯, E♯ and F

double sharp
. Its key signature has six sharps and one double sharp.[1]

Its relative minor is E-sharp minor, which is usually replaced by F minor. Its parallel minor is G-sharp minor, and its enharmonic equivalent is A-flat major.

The G-sharp major scale is:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key gis \major \time 7/4 gis4 ais bis cis dis eis fisis gis fisis eis dis cis bis ais gis2 \clef bass \key gis \major } }

Although G-sharp major is usually notated as the enharmonic key of A-flat major, because A-flat major has only four flats as opposed to G-sharp major's eight sharps (including the F

double sharp
), it does appear as a secondary key area in several works in sharp keys, most notably in the Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major from Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. The G-sharp minor prelude (and, in some editions, the fugue) from the same set ends with a Picardy third, on a G-sharp major chord. G-sharp major is tonicised briefly in several of Frédéric Chopin's nocturnes in C-sharp minor. A section in the second movement of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 is in G-sharp major, although the key signature has four sharps. The end of the exposition of the second movement Charles-Valentin Alkan's Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges', subtitled Quasi-Faust, is in G-sharp major, albeit written with a six-sharp key signature (the movement opens in D-sharp minor and ends in F-sharp major).

The final pages of A World Requiem by John Foulds are written in G-sharp major with its correct key signature shown in the vocal score including the F

double sharp
. The key signature is shown as in the LilyPond example with the scale above, starting with the C♯ and ending at the F
double sharp
.[2]

References

  1. ^ Thomas Busby (1840). "G-sharp major". A Dictionary of Three Thousand Musical Terms. revised by J. A. Hamilton. London: D'Almaine. p. 55.
  2. ^ "John Foulds: A World Requiem (1921), Wise Music Classical

External links

Diatonic scales and keys
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