[Smt-talk] F SHARP MAJOR

Tue May 20 06:45:04 PDT 2014

A keyboard-centered view also suggests an analogy to the divine: vis-à-vis Bemetzrieder and Fétis, F-sharp major is the only key in which both notes of the appellative tritone are "called to" a higher plane.

-Scott

--
Scott Murphy
Director, Music Theory and Composition Division
Associate Professor, Music Theory
University of Kansas School of Music
smurphy at ku.edu

From: Fiona McAlpine <fe.mcalpine at auckland.ac.nz<mailto:fe.mcalpine at auckland.ac.nz>>
Date: Tue, 20 May 2014 06:47:40 +0000
To: Ildar Khannanov <solfeggio7 at yahoo.com<mailto:solfeggio7 at yahoo.com>>, Conor Cook <conor.p.cook at gmail.com<mailto:conor.p.cook at gmail.com>>, Michael Luxner <mluxner at mail.millikin.edu<mailto:mluxner at mail.millikin.edu>>
Cc: SMT Talk <smt-talk at societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk at societymusictheory.org>>
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] F SHARP MAJOR

Keyboards, fingers & organists: why might Messiaen have found F# major a congenial key signature – or an accustomed place to put his hands –  at a time when he was developing his modes de transposition limitée? See his early Banquet Céleste which ends on what would be a V7 chord in relation to the key signature, or 'Les Mages' from La Nativité du Seigneur

(Dr) Fiona McAlpine
Honorary Research Fellow
School of Music
University of Auckland

Le Béguinage
42 Horns Rd
RD 1
Oxford 7495
North Canterbury
NEW ZEALAND
________________________________
From: Smt-talk [smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org>] on behalf of Ildar Khannanov [solfeggio7 at yahoo.com<mailto:solfeggio7 at yahoo.com>]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 May 2014 14:51
To: Conor Cook; Michael Luxner
Cc: smt-talk smt
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] F SHARP MAJOR

Dear Conor and the List,

I have published an article on music of Dmitri Tiomkin for the High Noon in the Film Music Journal. His Oscar-winning ballade Do not forsake me, o my darling is written in D flat major. It is difficult to visualize this key while horse-riding and singing on the prairie, and the guitar is not the best friend of this key! However, considering Dmitri's lessons with Glazunov it does not seem far fetched at all.

Best wishes,

Ildar Khannanov
Peabody Conservatory, Johns Hopkins University
solfeggio7 at yahoo.com<mailto:solfeggio7 at yahoo.com>
On Monday, May 19, 2014 3:44 PM, Conor Cook <conor.p.cook at gmail.com<mailto:conor.p.cook at gmail.com>> wrote:

Have any scholars examined keys in film scores or broadway?  The number and nature of keys changes often require extremely full key signatures and key area juxtapositions.

Best,
Conor Cook, MMus, M.A.
LaSalle Catholic Parishes

On May 19, 2014, at 10:54 AM, Michael Luxner <mluxner at mail.millikin.edu<mailto:mluxner at mail.millikin.edu>> wrote:

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<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto:music at ccny.cuny.edu>

America's Greatest Chair
in the low-priced field

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