[Smt-talk] F SHARP MAJOR

[Michael Luxner]

Dear all,
 
I wonder if anyone has an idea why the composers of 19th-century
Italian opera, from Bel Canto to late Verdi, are so partial to keys with
more than four flats, and why they chose these keys on the flat side as
opposed to the so-called "enharmonic" equivalents on the sharp side? 
I've long suspected that it has something to do the primary role of the
piano in the gestation and rehearsal of these works, but no evidence.  
 
Michael Luxner
Millikin University

>>> Donna Doyle <donnadoyle at att.net> 5/19/2014 7:11 AM >>>
Dear Steve,

Notice that most of your list's pieces are for keyboard. Take a look at
your hand, place it outstretched on a keyboard and observe where your
fingers rest. F#M/GbM are the most comfortable keys for pianists--long
fingers on the black keys, short finger(s) on the white. 19th c
pianist-composers experienced this. A story goes that when Schubert
submitted his GbM Moment Musical for publication, the publisher took
away the flats to sell more copies and ended up with left-over
inventory. Also, who was the American songwriter who played everything
in C#M on a transposing keyboard? Why not CM? Lastly, one need only
observe a good church organist to know that just about anything can be
managed on the keyboard by skillful hands (hence the WTC).  

Best regards,
Donna Doyle

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Aaron Copland School of Music
Queens College
Flushing, New York 11367

On May 18, 2014, at 10:38 PM, Stephen Jablonsky <jablonsky at optimum.net>
wrote:



I know that many of our members in academe are preparing for the end of
the school year and have little time for a dalliance with a particular
key and the rest of you have busy lives as well. I, on the other hand,
being a lifteime composer, have a mild case of OCD and could not let go
of this inquiry into the frequency of usage of F sharp major. A cursory
search of the Internet, and some help from friends, has produced what
may be the first definitive list of works in this very rare key.
Obviously, the list does not include works that attempt to do things in
every key. G flat major is another story for another day.


Beethoven    	    	   Sonata No. 24, op.78
Chopin					    Nocturne op. 15, No. 2;
Barcarole, op. 60; Impromptu, op. 36
Dvorak					    Humoresque, B. 138 (op. 32)
Huré						   Sonata for Cello and
Piano No. 3
Korngold   	    	      Symphony, op. 40
Liszt						    “Benediction de Dieu
dans la solitude” from Harmonies poetique et religieuses, III
Mahler					    Symphony No. 10
Scarlatti					  Sonatas, K. 318 and
319
Schumann				  Romance, op. 28, No. 2
Scriabin					  Sonata No. 4, op. 30;
Poeme, op. 32. No. 1
Soler						   Sonata, Rubio 90


Dr. Stephen Jablonsky, Ph.D.
Music Department Chair
The City College of New York
Shepard Hall Room 72
New York NY 10031
(212) 650-7663
music at ccny.cuny.edu

America's Greatest Chair 
in the low-priced field









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