Re: Gis major key signature; Lily's key signature algorithm

[Urs Liska]

Am 07.02.2018 um 21:13 schrieb Blöchl Bernhard:
> You mention f♭? Then you get a double ♭!
> "
> {\key fes \major c d e}
>
> You go better with
>
> {\key e \major c d e}
>
> That double crosses and double ♭s happen frequently if you transcripe 
> music. in this cases it's better to use the circle of fifth/fourth, 
> however you might call it.

Wow, quite a bold statement, given that we have no clue about the 
historical context of the original poster's question.
I'd always argue that depending on the style (actually most European 
music from the 18th until far into the 20th century) E major is worlds 
apart from Fes major (and with "worlds" I really mean heaven/earth, 
life/death, dream/reality, whatever you want).

My favourite example is in Schubert's song Schwangesang D 744 
(http://imslp.org/wiki/Schwanengesang,_D.744_(Schubert,_Franz) ).
The song is in a flat major, then turns to the darker mood of the 
variant a flat minor and its parallel c flat major (both six flats) and 
then reaches an absolute anticlimax on the word "auflösend" (meaning: 
life is dissolving) on the minor subdominant: a fes minor seventh chord 
(=> <fes' asas' ces'' eses''> in LilyPond language)! There's no way this 
could ever make sense in e minor.
But what makes even *less* sense is the helpless rendering of the 
original edition: <fes g ces d> (the d even being "resolved" to des).