| Relative key | A♭ major |
|---|---|
| Parallel key | F major |
| Dominant key | C minor |
| Subdominant | B♭ minor |
| Component pitches | |
| F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭ | |
| Relative key |
G♯ major enharmonic: A♭ major |
|---|---|
| Parallel key | E♯ major enharmonic: F major |
| Dominant key | B♯ minor enharmonic: C minor |
| Subdominant |
A♯ minor enharmonic: B♭ minor |
| Enharmonic | F minor |
| Component pitches | |
| E♯, F |
|
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, and E♭. The harmonic minor raises the E♭ to E♮. Its key signature has four flats.
Its relative major is A-flat major, and its parallel major is F major.
Three famous pieces in the key of F minor are Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Haydn's Symphony No. 49, La Passione.
Glenn Gould once said if he could be any key, he would be F minor, because "it's rather dour, halfway between complex and stable, between upright and lascivious, between gray and highly tinted...There is a certain obliqueness."
Helmholtz once described F minor as harrowing and melancholy. Schubart described this key as "Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave".