D-sharp minor is infrequently used as the principal key of pieces in the
Classical era. More common is notation in
E-flat minor, which is a relatively manageable key for many
brass instruments and
woodwinds. In the 24 canonic keys, most of the composers preferred E-flat minor, while
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Sergei Lyapunov, and
Manuel Ponce preferred D-sharp minor. From Bach's
The Well-Tempered Clavier, the eighth fugue from Book 1 and the eighth prelude and fugue from Book 2 are in D-sharp minor; both fugues end with a
Picardy third, requiring an F in the final
D-sharp major chord. The second of Lyapunov's
12 Transcendental Études ("Ronde des Fantômes") is also in D-sharp minor.
Alexander Scriabin's
Etude Op. 8, No. 12 is in this key, perhaps the most famous example. The second movement from
Charles-Valentin Alkan's ''
Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges', subtitled Quasi-
Faust'', is also in D-sharp minor (but ends in
F-sharp major), and modulates into even sharper keys along the way, some even being keys with
double sharps or beyond, such as
G-sharp major and
D-sharp major. In a few scores, 6-sharp key signatures in the bass clef are written with the sharp for the A on the top line. Despite the key rarely being used in orchestral music other than to modulate, it is not entirely uncommon in keyboard music. For orchestration of piano music, some theorists recommend transposing the music to
D minor or
E minor. If D-sharp minor must absolutely be used, one should take care that B wind instruments be notated in
F minor, rather than
E-sharp minor (or G instruments used instead, giving a transposed key of
G-sharp minor), and B instruments in
E minor, in order to avoid double sharps in key signatures. Meanwhile, the E horns would have parts written with a
B minor key signature. Instruments in F can be written in
A-sharp minor but it is more recommended to use
B-flat minor for them. ==References==