| Relative key | A-flat major |
|---|---|
| Parallel key | F major |
| Dominant key | C minor |
| Subdominant key | B-flat minor |
| Component pitches | |
| F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭ | |
F minor is aminor scale based onF, consisting of the pitches F,G,A♭,B♭,C,D♭, andE♭. Itskey signature consists of fourflats. Itsrelative major isA-flat major and itsparallel major isF major.The Fnatural minor scale is
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The Fharmonic minor andmelodic minor scales are
Thescale degree chords of F minor are:
Famous pieces in the key of F minor includeBeethoven'sAppassionata Sonata,Chopin'sPiano Concerto No. 2,Ballade No. 4,Haydn'sSymphony No. 49,La Passione andTchaikovsky’sSymphony 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]
| Relative key | G-sharp major →enharmonic:A-flat major |
|---|---|
| Parallel key | E-sharp major →enharmonic:F major |
| Dominant key | B-sharp minor →enharmonic:C minor |
| Subdominant key | A-sharp minor |
| Enharmonic key | F minor |
| Component pitches | |
E♯, F , G♯, A♯, B♯, C♯, D♯ | |
E-sharp minor is akey based on themusical noteE♯, consisting of the pitches E♯, F,G♯,A♯,B♯,C♯ andD♯. Its key signature haseightsharps, requiring onedouble sharp and six single sharps. Because E-sharp minor requires eight sharps, including the F, it is almost always notated as itsenharmonic equivalent ofF minor, with fourflats.
The E-sharpnatural minor scale is:
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The E-sharpharmonic minor andmelodic minor scales are:
The scale-degree chords of E-sharp minor 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 inJohann Sebastian Bach'sThe Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1,Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, BWV 848. (E-sharp minor is themediant minor key ofC-sharp major.)
Intuning systems where the number of notes per octave is not a multiple of 12, notes such as E♯ and F are not enharmonically equivalent, nor are the corresponding key signatures. These tunings can produce keys with no analogue in12-tone equal temperament, which can require double sharps, double flats, ormicrotonal alterations in key signatures. For example, the key of E-sharp minor, with eight sharps, is equivalent to F minor in 12-tone equal temperament, but in19-tone equal temperament, it is equivalent toF-flat minor instead, with 11 flats.
Media related toF minor at Wikimedia Commons
