|Relative key||D♯ minor|
|Parallel key||F♯ minor|
|Notes in this scale|
|F♯, G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, E♯, F♯|
Use of this key[change | change source]
This key is not used often in orchestral music except to modulate. It is used more often in piano music, like Scriabin's sonatas. When piano music in this key needs to be arranged for orchestra, sometimes it is better to change it to F or G major. If F-sharp major needs to be used, transposing instruments in B flat should have their music written in A-flat major, not G-sharp major.
The Presentation of the Rose scene in Act Two of Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier is written in F-sharp major. F-sharp major is the key of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Op. 78, of Chopin's Barcarolle, of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, of Mahler's unfinished Tenth Symphony, Erich Korngold's Symphony Op. 40, and Scriabin's Fourth Sonata.
In a few scores, the F-sharp major key signature in the bass clef is written with the sharp for the A on the top line.
Diatonic Scales and Keys
|The table shows the number of sharps or flats in each scale. Minor scales are written in lower case.|
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to F-sharp major.|