Sunday, August 15, 2021

Resuming our march through the 24 major and minor keys, we hear today the Prelude and Fugue in G major from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

 Saturday, August 14, 2021

Perhaps the best-known of all F-sharp minor compositions is Haydn's "Farewell Symphony", which also has the unusual distinction of being the solution to a labor-management dispute between the Duke Esterhazy and his court musicians.

 Friday, August 13, 2021

Among the handful of compositions in F-sharp minor is the slow movement from Beethoven's Opus 106 piano sonata, the "Hammerklavier". In seeking an adequate rendering, I came across this extraordinary performance by Yuja Wang. The slow movement starts at 11:54 but I urge you to listen to the entire work if you can.

[notes by Margaret Scialdone]

 Thursday, August 12, 2021

Returning to our journey through the 24 major and minor keys, here is a calm and thoughtful performance of the Prelude and Fugue in F# minor from Book II of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. 

 Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Today we move from the key of F-sharp major to G-flat major only to discover that they are in exactly the same place! Why would a composer choose one over the other?

 Tuesday, August 10, 2021

As the key of F# major has six sharps, most of the playing is done on the black keys of the piano. This would have been impossible before well-tempering was developed, as the notes would have been hopelessly out of tune with one another. Frédéric Chopin used F# major in composing his Opus 60 Barcarolle, and his Nocturne Opus 15, No. 2 which we hear today.

 Sunday, August 8, 2021

Continuing in the key of F-sharp major, we have the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from Verdi’s opera, “Nabucco”. 

 Monday, August 9, 2021

F# major has been the cradle of many unusually beautiful compositions. In 1839 Robert Schumann wrote a set of 3 Romances as a Christmas gift for his fiancée Clara. She described the second one, in F#, as "a beautiful love duet". In fact, Schumann wrote it on three staves in order to bring out the main melodic lines of the duet, which is played mostly with the thumbs.

 Saturday, August 7, 2021

We’ll linger here, midway in our musical journey through the well tempered system, to listen to other works written in the key of F# major by different composers. Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 24 in F# major, Op. 78, à Thérèse" was dedicated to the Countess Thérèse von Brunswick.