Sharp minors and flat majors?

[Mystery]

Does the idea of a sharp major (e.g. F sharp minor, E minor) contradict itself? (i.e. major keys are associated with sharps because they are considered 'bright' as opposed to the dullness of flats). Vice versa for flat majors like Gb.

[lukeottevanger]

I see your point; personally I feel that if these concepts of sharpness and flatness have any force (and I think they do) their impact is to give keys different shades of 'meaning', associatively. IOW, a flat major key carries different connotations to a sharp one, but with both under the blanket idea of 'major' - one could be a 'relaxed major' (or whatever; another could be something else.  See my rabbitings about G flat and F sharp majors in your thread on F sharp minor to see what I mean

[Cato]

Does the idea of a sharp major (e.g. F sharp minor, E minor) contradict itself? (i.e. major keys are associated with sharps because they are considered 'bright' as opposed to the dullness of flats). Vice versa for flat majors like Gb.

Would you pose your question as a return to the idea of different tunings, with the sharp keys being tuned slightly "brighter" and the flat keys slightly "darker" and not enharmonically equivalent?