F major

F major (or the key of F) is a musical major scale starting on F. Its key signature has one flat.

F major

Relative key	D minor
Parallel key	F minor
Dominant key
Subdominant
Notes in this scale
F, G, A, B♭, C, D, E, F

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

F major is the home key of the English horn, the basset horn, the horn in F, the trumpet in F and the bass Wagner tuba. This means that if you want these instruments to sound in F major, you have to write in C major. Most of these sound a perfect fifth lower than written, except the trumpet in F which sounds a perfect fourth higher. (The basset horn also often sounds an octave and a fifth lower.)

Of the six Overtures Francesco Maria Veracini wrote for Prince Friedrich Augustus in Dresden, most are in either F major or B-flat major because the prince's orchestra had a lot of wind instruments that played best in these keys.

List of compositions in F Major

• Brandenburg Concertos Nos 1 & 2 - Johann Sebastian Bach
• Piano Concerto No. 19 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68, "Pastoral" - Ludwig van Beethoven
• Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 - Johannes Brahms
• Piano Concerto No. 2 (Shostakovich) - Dimitri Shostakovich
• Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" - Antonio Vivaldi

Scales and keys