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However, Johann Sebastian Bach chose C-sharp major for Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier. In Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, Franz Liszt takes the unusual step of changing the key from D-flat major to C-sharp major near the start of the piece, and then back again to B-flat minor.
Some keys (such as C ♯ major with seven sharps) may be written as an enharmonically equivalent key (D ♭ major with five flats in this case). In rare cases, the sharp keys may be extended further, G ♯ → D ♯ → A ♯ → E ♯ → B ♯ → F → C, requiring double sharps in the key signature: F, C, G, D, A, E, B.
[9] [10] The key note or tonic of a piece in a major key is a semitone above the last sharp in the signature. [11] For example, the key of D major has a key signature of F ♯ and C ♯, and the tonic (D) is a semitone above C ♯. Each scale starting on the fifth scale degree of the previous scale has one new sharp, added in the order shown. [10]
When a musical key or key signature is referred to in a language other than English, that language may use the usual notation used in English (namely the letters A to G, along with translations of the words sharp, flat, major and minor in that language): languages which use the English system include Irish, Welsh, Hindi, Japanese (based on katakana in iroha order), Korean (based on hangul in ...
Although the enharmonic key of A-flat major is preferred because A-flat major has only four flats as opposed to G-sharp major's eight sharps (including the F), G-sharp major appears 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.
For example, in Alkan’s 25 Preludes, Op. 31, the sequence of keys moves alternately up a fourth and down a third: the major keys take the odd-numbered positions in the cycle, proceeding chromatically upwards from C to C again, and each major key is followed by its subdominant minor. Yet others used no systematic ordering.
The key was the favorite tonality of Olivier Messiaen, who used it throughout his work to express his most exciting or transcendent moods, most notably in the Turangalîla-Symphonie. Like G-flat major, F-sharp major is rarely used in orchestral music, other than in passing. It is more common in piano music.
Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, BWV 872, is a keyboard composition written by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is the third prelude and fugue in the second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier , a series of 48 preludes and fugues in every major and minor key.