: A question about Liszt's sonata in b minor I’m doing a studying about Liszt's sonata in b minor. In the andante sostenuto part (and many other parts) Liszt used F sharp major (or D sharp minor). I still can’t comprehend

Vote Up Vote Down   0 Reactions

Login to give Reaction!

While Liszt's Sonata is hardly an exemplar of anything close to a standard classical form, the use of F♯ major in a piece in B minor isn't unheard of. It's just the key of the major dominant. The minor dominant key is more common for pieces in minor keys, but modulations to the major dominant (V) are increasingly common in chromatic harmony of the 19th century.

Liszt's piece is all over the map in terms of the keys it visits. The F♯ major (and sometimes its relative minor) is actually much easier to explain as a somewhat standard (variant) key destination compared to many of the keys in the piece.

I'm not sure if this answers the question -- I mean, one could talk about how and why Liszt manages modulations to get to this key, but (as I said) the piece is pretty wide-ranging keywise. One could also appeal to some patterns in the overall key structure for the piece as a whole, but I'm not sure that's what the question is after either.