Exactly when Mendelssohn composed his Fantasia in F sharp minor ("Sonate écossaise"), Op. 28, has not been determined. We know that the final manuscript was completed on January 29, 1833. However, letters from Mendelssohn to his sister suggest that the piece, then titled "Sonate écossaise" (Scottish Sonata), was written as early as 1828, linking it with Mendelssohn's conception of his Scottish Symphony and Hebrides overture. What has puzzled some, however, is that if the "Sonata écossaise" originated in 1828, it could not have been inspired by Mendelssohn's 1829 trip to Scotland. This does not really present a problem, because pieces entitled "Écossaise" ("Scottish" in French) and based on a Scottish country dance had been popular in Europe for many years by 1828. When Mendelssohn had the Fantasia, Op. 28, published in 1834 in Bonn, he suppressed the original title.

The F sharp minor Fantasia is generally considered one of the best examples of Mendelssohn's virtuoso works for the piano. It has all the marks of the composer's later "Scottish" works, including chords with open fifths, open harmonies, pedaling that creates a fuzzy effect, and powerful, dissonant crescendos.

Mendelssohn builds the Fantasia on simple, elegant themes that can be taken easily through various harmonies and transformed. In three movements, each at a faster tempo than the previous one, the Fantasia resembles Beethoven's Sonata quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2 ("Moonlight" Sonata) in its overall format and minor key. The material of the Fantasia, however, is nothing like Beethoven's.

The first movement is in a loose sonata form and begins with introductory, ascending and wide-ranging arpeggios. The ensuing Andante is melancholy in character with a simple, eight-measure theme. Quiet arpeggios return to lead to the secondary theme in the relative major. Flashy arpeggios and octaves, marked Con moto agitato, form the central section. The recapitulation begins fortissimo, the first theme played an octave higher and over a driving, chromatic bass. In the coda, the main theme reappears, unharmonized and played with the pedal open.

Mendelssohn casts the second movement, Allegro con moto, in A major. A scherzo in form, the quaint movement features some thematic transformation of the main theme in the second half of the scherzo. After the charming trio, with its simple melody in octaves, the scherzo material is repeated note for note, with an extension.

Marked Presto, the finale is a fiery sonata-form movement in F sharp minor. After rapid, plummeting scales the exposition maintains a high energy level, even during the cantabile second theme. The development juxtaposes rapid scales and a rising figure in the left hand derived from the main theme. When the second theme appears in the recapitulation it is resolved to F sharp, but is still in the major mode. The coda further develops the rising figure from the development section and closes the piece in F sharp minor.

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