> On 30 Jun 2021, at 20:47, Lukas-Fabian Moser <l...@gmx.de> wrote: > > So, "three sharps" (but not in modern arrangement) for the two violins, "four > sharps" (which are actually three) for soprano and bass. That's interesting > insofar as today we're basically used to only counting the total number of > flats/sharps. So, if one looks only at the soprano line, one might mistake > the key signature for e major, but in fact it's a major. (As an additional > twist, Heinichen's example piece is actually in e major, but he writes all > the d-sharp's in-place.)
Traditionally, key signatures are merely used to simplify notation, not to indicate the key and scale. Harmonic minor is rarely getting such a key signature, and it is not possible to have a single key signature in melodic minor for the variable scale degrees. Non-standard positions appear in Turkish and Persian music, where they can be microtonal accidentals. In Turkish music, the name of the makam is typically written over the key signature. In Arabic and Bulgarian music, one may not write a key signature.