The key signature of A sharp minor has seven sharps. Its tonic minor is A sharp minor.
Its enharmonic equivalent is B flat minor which has five flats. Its relative major is C
sharp major. The natural scale of A sharp minor consists of the following notes: A sharp,
B sharp [C], C sharp, D sharp, E sharp [F], F sharp, G sharp, and A sharp.
Its parallel major is A sharp major which is usually replaced by B flat major because A
sharp major, which would have ten sharps, is not normally used. Occasionally brief
passages in A sharp major are not changed to B flat. Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie in A
flat major opus 61 has a brief passage of about six bars actually notated in A sharp major,
with the necessary double sharps inserted as accidentals. The overall harmonic context is
an extended theme in B major which briefly modulates to A sharp major.
A sharp minor, with seven sharps, is not a practical key for composition. It is replaced by
its enharmonic equivalent B flat minor.
B flat minor (A sharp minor)
The key signature of B flat minor has five flats. Its enharmonic equivalent is A sharp
minor which has seven sharps. Its relative major is D flat major. Its tonic major is B flat
major. The natural minor scale of B flat minor consists of the notes B flat, C, D flat, E
flat, F, G flat, A flat and B flat. In the harmonic minor scale the A flat become a natural.
In the German language B flat is called so B flat minor is called B moll. B flat minor is
usually associated with sadness and loneliness. Some important oboe solos in this key in
the orchestral literature include the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 4
which depicts ‘the feeling that you get when you are all alone’, in Tchaikovsky’s words,
and the slow movement of César Franck’s Symphony in D minor. Tchaikovsky’s piano
concerto no. 1 is written in this key but the famous opening theme is in the relative major
of D flat major. Shostakovitch’s Symphony no. 13, Richard Strauss’s ‘Eine
Alpensinfonie’ and Sir William Walton’s Symphony no. 1 are among the few
symphonies written in B flat minor. Scarlatti wrote just two keyboard sonatas in B flat
minor, K 128 and K 131. B flat minor is the flattest key he ever used for a sonata.
Some piano pieces in B flat minor:
Chopin: Nocturne opus 9 no. 2
Chopin: Sonata opus 35 ‘Funeral March’
Liszt: Transcendental étude ‘Chasse Neige’
Reubke: Sonata
Rachmaninoff: Sonata no. 2 opus 36
B major