F major

The F major scale (or the key of F) consists of the pitches F, G, A, B♭, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat.

Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor.

F major key is the home key of the English horn, the basset horn, the horn in F, the trumpet in F and the bass Wagner tuba. Thus, music in F major for these instruments is written in C major key. Most of these sound a perfect fifth lower than written, with the exception of the trumpet in F which sounds a fourth higher. (The basset horn also often sounds an octave and a fifth lower.)

Notable compositions in F major

E major

E major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, and D♯. Its key signature has four sharps.

Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor.

Only two of Haydn's 104 symphonies are in E major, No. 12 and No. 29. Even in the 19th Century, symphonies in this key were rare, with Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 being one of very few examples (see list of symphonies in E major). For Bruckner, "the key of E major is frequently associated with music of contemplation."

Two symphonies that begin in D minor and end in E major are Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony and Nielsen's Symphony No. 4.

More typically, however, some symphonies that begin in E minor switch to E major for the finale, such as Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10. Starting with Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, several works in the key of C minor began to have slow movements in E major, three examples of which are Johannes Brahms' First Symphony and Third Piano Quartet, and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. Chopin's first Piano Concerto starts in e minor, but the last two movements are in E Major.

F-sharp major

F♯ major or F-sharp major is a major scale based on F♯, consisting of the pitches F♯, G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, and E♯. Its key signature has six sharps.

Its relative minor is D♯ minor (usually replaced by E♭ minor), and its parallel minor is F♯ minor. Its enharmonic equivalent is G♭ major. In writing music in E major for B-flat instruments, it is preferable to use a G-flat rather than an F-sharp key signature.

F-sharp major is the key of the minuet in Joseph Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony, of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Op. 78, of Chopin's Barcarolle, of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, of Mahler's unfinished Tenth Symphony, of Erich Korngold's Symphony Op. 40, and of Scriabin's Fourth Sonata. The key was the favourite tonality of Olivier Messiaen, who used it repeatedly throughout his work to express his most exciting or transcendent moods, most notably in the Turangalîla Symphony.

In a few scores, the F-sharp major key signature in the bass clef is written with the sharp for the A on the top line.