Alexander Scriabin: Aesthetic Development through Selected Piano Works

By

Nuno Cernadas

Master Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Degree of Master of Music

Hochschule für Musik Freiburg

March 2013

2

I give full flowering to each feeling, each search, each thirst. I raise you up, legions of feelings, pure activity, my children. I raise you, my complicated, unified feelings, and embrace all of you as my one activity, my one ecstasy, bliss, my last moment. I am God. I raise you up, and I am resurrected, and then I kiss you and lacerate you. I am spent and weary, and then I take you. In this divine act I know you to be one with me. I give you to know this bliss, too. You will be resurrected in me, the more I am incomprehensible to you. I will ignite your imagination with the delight of my promise. I will bedeck you in the excellence of my dreams. I will veil the sky of your wishes with the sparkling stars of my creation. I bring not truth, but freedom.1

Alexander Scriabin

1 Scriabin’s Notebooks, quoted in: Bowers, Faubion. The New Scriabin: Enigma and Answers. Newton Abbot London: David & Charles, 1974, p.115-116.

3

4

5 Acknowledgements

I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Coordinator of the present Thesis, Prof. Dr. Ludwig Holtmeier, for all his support and scientific advice. I would also like to convey my appreciation to Prof. Hans Fuhlbom and Prof. Gilead Mishory of the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, and to Prof. Dina Yoffe, for bringing me to a closer and better comprehension of Scriabin’s music. I also thank Prof. Fátima Travanca, with whom I first studied Scriabin’s piano music, for sparking my interest in music in general and for introducing me to the music of this wonderful composer.

Finally, I would like to dedicate this work to my parents Josefina and Eduardo. I am deeply thankful for their love and trust and their belief in my work and character, and for always having encouraged my wish to pursue a career in music.

Without their efforts, it would not have been possible to materialize this thesis.

6 Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ...... 7

BIOGRAPHY OF THE COMPOSER ...... 10

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EARLY PERIOD ...... 23

Sonata No.3 in F sharp minor, op.23 ...... 25 I – Drammatico ...... 27 II – Allegretto ...... 35 III – Andante ...... 39 IV – Presto con fuoco ...... 45

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD ...... 55 Quatre Morceaux op.51 ...... 57

Fragilité ...... 59 Prélude ...... 63 Poème ailé ...... 66 Danse Languide ...... 71

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LATE PERIOD ...... 76 Vers la Flamme, Poème op.72 ...... 78

FINAL REMARKS ...... 91

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 93

7 Introduction

The music of Alexander Scriabin has a magical quality that has captivated the imagination of the public for generations. The first piano pieces have inherent a certain freshness (almost naiveté) and a simplicity of musical expression that fascinates every listener, through their beauty and ingenuity. Although these works are tremendously inspired by Chopin, Scriabin does not copy the polish master but rather takes inspiration from his sound world in order to create his own poetic voice. As one dwells over Scriabin’s work, going progressively deeper into his middle and late periods, it becomes apparent an ever-growing crystallization and sophistication of the composer’s ideas and principles. Hence, the middle period serves as a transitional étage for the clarification of Scriabin’s musical thought and is the critical moment of his musical development. It is a period of self-searching, deepening of concepts, progressive construction of a musical formula in which he would later swim freely. The final period is the consolidation of his art. It corresponds to the production of a self-confident master, finally achieving the tightly bond structure that allows for unique and effortless musical expression. This is his most original period, for it is during this phase that Scriabin claims the right to be inscribed in Music History books, as one of the most visionary and imaginative composers of all time.

This noticeable evolution of Scriabin’s aesthetics and musical thought brings about two very important questions:

• What caused it? • In which ways is this development recognizable in his music?

The present thesis attempts to answer these problems in a manner that mixes both concrete analytical terminology and the subjective opinions of its author. It tries, however, not to fall into hermetical analytical concepts but rather provide them as a support for the conclusions that the author hopes to be musically clarifying.

8 It is the author’s opinion that there is much more to Scriabin’s music than just the explanation of the Mystic chord or the harmonic developments that his music brought about. This thesis does not intend to explain in detail the development of either the harmonic, melodic, rhythmical or philosophical dimensions of Scriabin’s music, but uses each one of these perspectives as means to enlighten the evolution of the musical thought.

In order to provide answers for the above-mentioned first question, the author decided to present a biography of the composer, hoping that the insight on Scriabin’s private, social and spiritual life may bring forth a better contextualization of the internal and external conditions in which Scriabin’s oeuvre was brought to life. To answer the second question, the author elected three significant works of Scriabin’s piano production, each one belonging to a different period of his musical creation. These will serve as musical examples to prove Scriabin’s creative evolution, since each of these compositions is a superlative representative of the qualities that are idiomatic to the corresponding period, while simultaneously containing features that are transversal to the composer’s whole production.

The selected piano works are:

• Piano Sonata No.3 in F sharp minor, op.23 - Early Period • Quatre Morceaux (Four Pieces), op.51 - Middle Period • Poème “Vers la Flamme”, op.72 - Late Period

The author will focus on the analysis of each of these works, considering their different dimensions. He will try to show each piece’s inspiration and compositional procedures as well as their philosophical content in an attempt to faithfully portray the similarities and differences between them. This comparison will, hopefully, allow for a clearer recognition of the aesthetical development of Scriabin’s music.

9

By recognizing the new musical possibilities opened up by Scriabin, the author must adapt his analytical techniques for a better understanding of each of these very different works. In this sense, and although the analysis of the Third Sonata op.23 focuses itself entirely in tonal principles (however filled with a characteristic fin de siècle chromaticism), the author’s approach to Quatre Morceaux and especially to Vers la Flamme had to mix different analytical components, in order to portray a more accurate and clarified perspective. These consist of the traditional musical analysis rooted on tonality as well as the so called “pitch-class set theory”, which the author considered very useful to classify some of the atonal structures present in Scriabin’s later music, and also as a labeling device with which Scriabin’s harmonies could be more immediately distinguishable.

10 Biography of the Composer

As he liked to say, Scriabin came from a “(…) noble and military family. Indeed, his was an aristocratic family, with roots going as deep as the thirteen century.” 2 All of his male relatives on his father’s side had careers in the military. His father, Nikolai Alexandrovich Scriabin (1849-1914), avoided this tradition and studied Law instead at the Moscow University as well as Oriental Languages in Petersburg, granting him the possibility of being sent as an official interpreter to the Russian Embassy in Constantinople.3 Alexander Scriabin’s mother, Lyubov Petrovna Shchetinina (1849-1873), was a concert pianist and one of the first Russian female professional musicians. She took her diploma with honors in the Petersburg Conservatory (she was awarded the Great Gold Medal) in 1867. Her teacher was Theodor Leschetizky,4 Europe’s most notable piano pedagogue at the time, a man who taught Ignaz Friedman, Arthur Schnabel and Benno Moiseiwitsch, among other great pianists. She was a frequent performer in both Petersburg and Moscow. Two of her documented concerts include a recital with a soprano (when already seven months pregnant of Alexander) and a solo concert on December 20th (five days before his birth) 5, both in Saratov, a major city in southern Russia, on the banks of the Volga river. The physical exhaustion from these concerts sent Lyubov to a state of prolonged weakness which finally resulted in a severe lung inflammation. Additionally, she had to endure a tremendously tiring journey from Saratov to Moscow (approximately 1000km), so that the birth could happen in Nikolai's family house. She still had the strength to go through labor, giving birth to Alexander Scriabin in Moscow on Christmas Day 1871, which according to the Gregorian (or western) Calendar would be January 6th 1872. The mother, already fragile by nature, never recovered from all these events and even a seven month period spent by the Scriabin couple in Arco (at the time, a famous treatment resort in

2Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p. 99. 3Idem, p. 108. 4Hull, A. Eaglefield. A Great Russian Tone Poet, Scriabin. London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., Ltd., 1916, p.18. 5Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p. 105.

11 Italy) could not prevent her precocious death with tuberculosis at the age of 23, when her son was only two years old. With his mother deceased and his father constantly away from home in diplomatic service (he could only enjoy a four months home leave every three years), the young Alexander was given to the joint care of his grandmother, great-aunt and aunt Lyubov Alexandrova. The latter dedicated her very existence to the upbringing of Scriabin, accompanying him for the rest of his formative years. Scriabin’s musical sensibility was evident since an early age, as he was able to play the piano with both hands when he was five. By the age of eight, he was fabricating some piano toy miniatures 6 . As aunt Lyubov testifies, “Shurinka’s [her nickname for her nephew] love of music showed from the cradle. He bore the piano such a tender feeling that he seemed to think it human.”7 Being a serious child, he would rather share his time between music and the company of his older female relatives than gather with boys and girls his own age. In 1882, Scriabin was registered in the 2nd Moscow Army Cadet Corps, where his education was to be continued following the military tradition in his family.8 Scriabin was, however, spared from the most straining activities and the ideal of physical aptitude, due to his weak and fragile physique and his musical gifts. The first attempts on composition date from this period, although he had not yet had any musical training. Scriabin first started his formal music education by taking private piano lessons with the promising pianist Georgy Konus. After some coaching and advising from Sergei Taneyev (at the time head of the piano department of the Moscow Conservatory), Scriabin was then introduced to Nikolai Zverev, the foremost piano pedagogue in Moscow. Zverev was famous for his ability to develop young talents into promising pianists, preparing them for the entrance examinations of the Moscow Conservatory. Scriabin entered Zverev's class in 1884, studying along with young pianists such as Sergei Rachmaninov and Alexander Goldenweiser. It was during this time that he first got acquainted with a rigorous, disciplined way of practicing, of a minimum of 3 hours per day.9

6 Heyman, Katherine Ruth. The Relation of Ultramodern to Archaic Music, Boston : Small, Maynard & company, 1921, p.111. 7 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.110. 8 Hull, A. Eaglefield. A Great Russian Tone Poet, Scriabin. London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., Ltd., 1916, p.28. 9Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.106.

12 Scriabin mastered the salon music that was in vogue at the time while simultaneously getting in touch with the works of Chopin, a composer that would deeply influence him, to a point where he would sleep with scores of Chopin’s works under his pillow.10 The fact that Scriabin’s earlier works adopt the nomenclature and style used by Chopin (e.g. Waltz op.1, Mazurkas op.3, Nocturnes op.5, Impromptus op.7 or Etudes op.8) is an obvious indicator of this influence. In January 1888, Scriabin was accepted to the Moscow Conservatory without any entrance examination, since Vassily Safonov (the new head of the Piano Department) had previously heard him and wanted him in his class. During this period at the Conservatory, Scriabin severely injured his right hand from over-practicing Liszt's Fantasy on Mozart's Don Juan. He was advised by his doctor to interrupt practicing, the prognosis being the end of his performing career. This distressful situation brought along the first depression in Scriabin's life, on which he wrote passionately and extensively, aiming his rage against God and fate for his misfortune:

At twenty: Gravest event of my life… Trouble with my hand. Obstacle to my supreme goals-GLORY, FAME. Insurmountable, according to doctors. This was my first real defeat in life. First serious thinking: Beginning of self-analysis. Doubted, however, that I would NEVER recover, but still my darkest hour. First thinking about the value of life, religion, God. Still a strong faith in Him (Jehovah rather than Christ). I prayed from the bottom of my heart, with fervor, went to church… Cried out against fate, against God. Composed First Sonata with its “Funeral March”.11

In 1892, all of his despair resulted in the creation of his First Sonata in F minor op.6, a work containing an anguished Marche Funébre, along with three other somber movements. Due to this overbearing depression, this Sonata is a

10Idem, p.134. 11Scriabin’s Notebooks (1891-2) in Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p. 168.

13 unique piece, since Scriabin would never again compose a work inspired by personal tragedy with such an overwhelmingly negative atmosphere. During this period, Scriabin practiced only his left hand, developing agility and dexterity. These qualities would later be shown in the accompanying figures of some of his compositions (as in the fourth movement of the Third Sonata op.23 or the Fantasy op.28), and the overall left-handed nature of his music. He also used this experience to compose, three years later, the Prelude and Nocturne for the left hand op.9. These were tremendously successful pieces, bringing the composer fame and recognition, whilst giving him the label of being a “left-hand Chopin”. Scriabin graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 after a four- year study, which included lessons of Theory, Solfège, Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue, Free Composition as well as Piano12. He was always surrounded by an aura of controversy and mystery, eventually getting into a quarrel with Anton Arensky (1861-1906), at the time Professor of Free Composition. Scriabin refused to accept his teacher’s corrections and composed works that differed from the ones he was assigned to do. Arensky, on the other hand, always failed to recognize his pupil’s talent and, either unintentionally or out of jealousy, actively tried to dissuade him from pursuing a career as a composer.13 Due to this conflict, Arensky repeatedly refused to give the high marks that Scriabin's talent surely deserved and even declined signing Scriabin's Diploma, his being the only signature missing in the document. Failing to achieve excellence in Composition, Scriabin was only awarded the Little Gold Medal, in recognition to his outstanding marks in Piano. His college Rachmaninov was awarded the Great Gold Medal, the second student in the history of the Conservatory to be awarded such an honor (the first had been Taneyev) for excelling both in Piano and Composition. In 1894, Safonoff, Scriabin’s former piano professor in the Conservatory, introduced some of his pupil’s musical creations to Mitrofan Petrovich Belaieff (1836-1904), one of the heirs to a multimillion fortune in the timber business and the owner of a music publishing house. Belaieff’s firm, established in 1884, took on itself to promote and publish modern Russian music, by encouraging young composers through its limitless financial resources. Nevertheless, the works had to go through appreciation from a board of musical advisors (composed at the time by the respected composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov,

12 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.141. 13Hull, A. Eaglefield. A Great Russian Tone Poet, Scriabin. London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., Ltd., 1916, p .34.

14 Anatoly Liadov and Alexander Glazunov) before a contract with the composer was signed. The first pieces to be presented were the First Sonata op.6 and the Allegro Appassionato op.4. Despite some doubts displayed by members of the board, Scriabin was proposed a life-long contract of 100 rubles a month (this stipend was raised twice, reaching in 1898 the amount of 200 rubles a month, in a time when Scriabin was in Paris promoting his compositions14). Scriabin would also receive additional fees for every work presented to the firm, the amount depending on the genre and the size of the piece. Thus, Scriabin became financially independent, having found in Belaieff a publisher capable of giving him not only the creative freedom and space that he demanded but also the visibility that his artistry needed (by arranging concerts and private soirées for him to perform). One of these events was an important recital that Belaieff organized for his new protégé in Petersburg, in the Petrov School of Comerce in 1895. This was the very first recital that Scriabin gave that consisted exclusively of his works, including in the program the Impromptus op.4 and a selection from both the Etudes op.8 and the Mazurkas op.3. Scriabin and Belaieff held a tight professional and personal relationship, ever since the signing of his contract with the firm in 1894 up until Belaieff’s death in 1903. Scriabin’s European debut came in 1896, when he played in Paris in the famous Salle Erard. He was accompanied by Belaieff in what turned out to be a success, both with the music critics and the French musical circles. His Second Sonata (which took five years since it was first idealized to the date of publication) had its final arrangements made during this period of intense touring. In August 1897, Scriabin married Vera Isakovich, a young piano graduate from the Moscow Conservatory. She had a deep love for Scriabin and his music, and was already performing his works in public, some of them in her graduation recital. The wedding was seen suspiciously by Aunt Lyubov, due to her doubts that Scriabin could ever be happy in such a demanding relationship. Her fears could also be attributed to the fact that, once married, Scriabin would lead an independent life alongside his wife, thus distancing himself from his family. Right after the marriage, the Scriabin couple travelled to Europe in pursue of opportunities and engagements for both of them. They settled down in Paris and gave a joint recital in 1898, comprised entirely of Scriabin’s own works. The

14 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.247.

15 recital, as the composer puts it, was an artistic success but not a financial one, since he had to require the services of a manager and pay for the use of the concert hall.15 In the meantime, Vera became pregnant and the couple had to exchange the musical opportunities of Paris for the more comfortable and familiar atmosphere of Moscow. Back in Russia, Scriabin faced serious financial difficulties, since Belaieff reduced his monthly income from 200 to 100 rubles, as a reprimand for the procrastination in the delivery of his works and their proofs. He regained Belaieff’s trust after sending him the freshly composed Third Sonata, created during difficult times of financial instability and concerns about the health of his wife and baby. The baby, a girl named after the Italian name Rimma, was born in July 1898. In that same year, Scriabin is offered by Safonoff a professorship in the Moscow Conservatory, which he accepted only after asking Belaieff’s advice, who although expressing some doubts was nevertheless sympathetic.16 Scriabin took the job not so much based on a personal will or even predisposition for teaching, but because it would afford him an extra amount of 1200 rubles a year for 12 weekly working hours. Nevertheless, Scriabin impressed both fellow professors and his own students with the quality of his teaching, although never losing sight of his creative priorities and of the dangers of a full-time teaching position. These concerns are clearly expressed in a letter to Belaieff: “The Conservatory all the same, of course, keeps me from working, mainly by preventing me from concentrating. I hear too much music written by others.”17 He eventually quits the Conservatory in 190218, after having several of his students graduating with very good grades. Among them was Alexander Horowitz, Vladimir Horowitz’s uncle. In the end of his teaching period, all his students spoke highly of him, complimenting his devotion to the sound, tonal shading and coloring of the music as well as his outstanding pedaling. Coincidentally or not, it was during this five-year teaching period that Scriabin wrote some of his most unsuccessful and unconvincing compositions, namely the First and Second Symphonies, works that are full of beautiful lyricism and are orchestrated in an original way, but fail quite miserably in their last movements. As Scriabin himself would later admit, referring to the Second

15Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.249. 16Idem, p.256. 17Idem, p.266. 18Idem, p.292.

16 Symphony’s fourth movement: “Instead of the light which I needed, I got stuck with a military parade on my hands.”19 Starting in 1901, and for a period of three years, Scriabin was consumed with the desire of writing an opera. He wrote the whole libretto for it, a philosophical abstraction of a hero, introduced mysteriously as “Philosopher- Musician-Poet”, who through the strength of his “Will” and his love of the world, fights “dark and stagnant forces” to bring mankind to a state of unity, freedom and rapture20. This fusion of humanity into a blissful oneness will be a central aim of all of Scriabin’s later work, although by that time he had developed a more intricate philosophical system of his own, adopting “Ecstasy” as his central idea. This idealistic hero, a lifeless being devoid of any human characteristics, is Scriabin’s representation of Nietzsche’s Übermensch, a hero that wields mankind to the strength of his ideas. Its ultimate representation is Scriabin himself, reaching for the transfiguration of life through the power of his music. Scriabin was simultaneously working in countless piano works (including the Fourth Sonata, whose poetic program is directly extracted from the opera) and also on his Third Symphony, “The Divine Poem”. These projects eventually stole him the time and the interest that he once had in his opera, and made him move on to bigger and better things. Its programme, however, was the direct ancestor to his final project, the Mysterium, and many aspects of this megalomaniacal piece can be traced back to the original concept and philosophical content of the opera. In 1903, many important events happened in Scriabin’s life: he was finishing or had already finished opp.30-49, which contain some of his best music; he met Tatiana Schloezer (the sister of his friend and future biographer Boris de Schloezer), who would become his mistress and the mother of three of his children; and finally, he was dragged into a deep state of grief by the death of Mitrofan Belaieff, who had been his most steadfast supporter and patron since the beginning of his career. His relationship with the publishing house suffered a period of instability and uncertainty, but eventually the executors of the Belaieff estate carried on with previous management policies, maintaining Scriabin’s monthly income.

19Idem, p.283. 20Idem, p.306.

17 In 1904, Scriabin involved himself in a scandal of such proportions that he was forced to leave Russia for some time. He had an affair with one of his pupils at the St. Catherine Institute, a young girl by the name of Maria Bogoslovskaya. The scandal reached the girl's family and Scriabin was forced to resign the teaching position and flee to Switzerland, in order to give the affair time to cool down. It is very curious to acknowledge that Scriabin actually took some pleasure in its outspreading of this affair, showing, among many other things, the failure of his marriage and the lack of respect and consideration that the composer displayed towards his wife, Vera Isakovich. On May 29th 1905, Scriabin had his Third Symphony, “The Divine Poem”, premiered in Paris. This was a very important event for Scriabin, since its organization involved an extraordinary amount of money and due to the fact that the Symphony was conducted by the eminent Arthur Nikisch, one of Europe foremost orchestra directors. Most importantly, it was Scriabin’s first opportunity to promote on an international scale the philosophical doctrine that served as the programme to the symphony, proclaiming the transformative power of Art and envisioning a united mankind in a world of playfulness and bliss. It is during this period in Paris that Scriabin first contacts with Helena Blavatsky’s book The Key to Theosophy. He is immediately fascinated by its theosophical teachings and promptly adapts many of its ideas and concepts to his own developing ideology. 21In the words of Eaglefield Hull, “Scriabin's music appears to have joined issue with Theosophy as a convenient peg to hang his music on.”22 From this period came the first concrete ideas for the production of the Mysterium, a kind of all-encompassing work of art that would serve as a sacred ceremony for the uplifting of mankind into higher planes of existence. His megalomania and self-deification start to assume true forms at this point, as Scriabin states in his Notebooks his role as mankind’s magnum creator: “I am, and there is nothing outside of me. I am nothing. I am all. I am one, and within me is multiplicity. I wish to live. I am life’s palpitation. I am desire. I am a dream.”23

21 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.52. 22 Hull, A. Eaglefield. A Great Russian Tone Poet, Scriabin. London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., Ltd., 1916, p.47. 23 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.54.

18 On July 1905, and after having lived intermittently with his mistress for some time, Scriabin left his wife Vera and their four children. He wanted to be together with Tatiana de Schloezer, a woman who was deeply connected with his recent philosophical and psychological developments, able to fully commit herself to the success of her partner’s work and mission. Tragically, Scriabin and Vera’s first child, Rimma, would die some days later from volvulus (torsion, or twisting, of the intestine, causing intestinal obstruction). Tatiana was already pregnant by the time Scriabin left Vera. He fought until the end of his life for a divorce, but Vera never granted it, leaving Tatiana in a discomfortable social position. Later that year, Scriabin and Tatiana met Georgy Plekhanov, an important political thinker and Russian Marxist revolutionary, a person that might have influenced Scriabin's ever-changing philosophy. Scriabin and Plekhanov became acquainted in Bogliasco, Italy, and spent considerable time debating philosophy and confronting their sharp views and opinions. It is somewhat likely that some of Plekhanov's Marxist views could have influenced Scriabin's ideology and, consequently, his music. As Plekhanov himself later wrote, “Alexander Nikolayevich was keenly interested in the social life of the present-day civilized world in general and Russia in particular. He had a wonderful habit of trying to look at it, too, from a theoretical point of view.” 24 In fact, Plekhanov’s wife recounts an episode when, after presenting to the Plekhanov family his developing symphonic work The Poem of Ecstasy, Scriabin explained"[…]that this music was of the Revolution too [the 1905 Revolution], that its ideals were what the Russian people were struggling for, and therefore he would give the Poem an epigraph. He decided then and there on ‘Arise, ye toiling people! Stand up!’” 25 In 1906, Scriabin entered a conflict with the Belaieff Publishing House, now orphan of its founder. The firm announced the intention to cut to half the remuneration of some of pieces that Scriabin had sent (the 3 Pieces op.49), based on their brevity. Scriabin was furious, and interpreted this gesture on the part of the firm as an intention to break off their professional relationship. Therefore, he suspended all further association with the firm and became a freelance composer for a period of two years. Although he tried to fight this

24Plekhanov, Georgiy. Letter to Dr. Vladimir Vasilyevich Bogorodski. 1916, in Wetzel, Don Louis. Alexander Scriabin in Russian Musicology and its Background in Russian Intellectual History. 2009, p.292. 25 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.96.

19 adversity by publishing his own works, his efforts were expectably unsuccessful, being Scriabin absolutely alien to practical matters. These were very difficult times in his life: first by losing his main source of income provided by the publishing of his works (especially at a time when he had quit the teaching position in the Moscow Conservatory), and second by being deprived of the medium by which his music and ideas could reach the general public, not only hindering his establishment as a composer but also making it much harder to perform his music in public. This troubled period did not prevent Scriabin from making an important American tour in 1906/07, invited by his former cello colleague Modest Altschuler, at the time a promising conductor and founder of the Russian Symphony Society of New York, whose goal was the divulgation of works of both young and established Russian composers. Initially, Scriabin had only one appearance with orchestra (playing his Piano Concerto) and one small recital planned, but due to good reviews, he got several other offers to perform, both with orchestra as well as solo. Scriabin had, however, to leave in a hurry, since some newspapers figured out that the lady accompanying him, Tatiana, was not his wife. Fearing the scandal that would surely ensue, the couple took the first boat back to Europe. Once back in the Old Continent, Scriabin took part in a series of five concerts included in the Parisian "Russian Season", organized by the Russian impresario and patron Sergei Diaghilev. His Piano Concerto, Third Sonata and Second Symphony were the chosen works to be performed. In December 1908, the premiere of the "Poem of Ecstasy" took place in America (the Russian would come about in January 1909), marking the culmination of a hard three year composing period, from which resulted one of Scriabin's most important middle period works. During 1908, Scriabin met the composer-businessman Serge Koussevitzky. Koussevitzky became an instant millionaire after marrying the heiress to a fortune in tea and chemicals. He used the money to create concert series, inviting the most extraordinary soloists, as well as commissioning new pieces of music. He also created a new music publishing house, the "Russian Music Edition”, which would be based in Berlin. Scriabin was invited to take part in the project, meaning that he would not only have once again a publisher, but also a wealthy patron capable of backing up the production of his wildest creative dreams. This was an important turning point in Scriabin's life, since it granted him economic autonomy, getting him out of a fragile financial lifestyle in which

20 he was always dependent on upcoming concerts or on the generosity of his friends and benefactors. Still, and after sharing concert tours on many successful occasions, Scriabin and Koussevitzky would eventually quarrel over a payment that the composer thought was humiliatingly small. This led to their dissociation in 1911 in a climate of mutual aggression. The years of 1909 and 1910 mark, respectively, the conception and materialization of Scriabin’s last great work: Prometheus – The Poem of Fire. Prometheus, published as op.60, represents the beginning of the composer’s last period, when he crystallized an idiomatic and unique musical language that developed parallel to his Theosophical beliefs, making use of a complex harmonic system based on a fine mixture between whole-tone and octatonic elements. Prometheus is a major work, lasting under half an hour, composed for a massive orchestra including piano and color organ. The piano is not used as a solo instrument, but still has a very prominent role in the whole piece, rendering wonderful moments of sparkling, playful and fiery music, and serving as the symbol for Man26 struggling to impose his Will. The color organ is Scriabin’s first attempt at fusing music with other sensorial experiences, in order to “bathe the hall in light and pervade the very air and atmosphere.”27 It is well-known today that Scriabin, like Rimsky-Korsakov, experienced sound-color synesthesia, i.e. a neurological condition in which auditory stimulus trigger an involuntary and automatic association with colors. The color element would serve as a counterpoint to the music, and the colors displayed on the Hall corresponded to the ones Scriabin felt, depending on the key or tonal center that was being played at a given moment. Prometheus was Scriabin’s first attempt at his aspired Gesamtkunstwerk, a work of art that would encompass all human senses, and through them intoxicate the listener into a state of ecstatic bliss. It was, in a way, a first sketch for the Mysterium, his projected but never realized magnum final opus, which would, in his megalomaniacal madness, have apocalyptical implications and serve to catapult mankind to a transfigured state of existence. From the year of 1911 up to his premature death in 1915, Scriabin was very much obsessed with the idea of the Mysterium. The conceptualization of this work did not only provide poems and a general idea for the production of

26 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.208. 27 Idem, p.206.

21 this mega-multimedia piece, but also individual themes and musical sketches that would eventually be developed into independent works. This is the case of the Sixth and Seventh Sonatas, written in 1911 and 1912 respectively, filled with music of the deepest mysticism, a dark or satanic one in the case of the Sixth and a pure and holy in the case of the Seventh, like two opposing forces. Speaking of the Seventh Sonata (which the composer nicknamed as “White Mass”), Scriabin described it as "...pure mysticism...total absence of human feeling...complete lack of emotional lyricism." It was his favorite composition. The last three Sonatas, the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth were all composed in a breeze of inspiration in 1913, although the conception of the Ninth had begun one year before, when the composer was residing in Beattenberg.28 Again, they present some very noticeable contrasts. The Eighth Sonata is a massive piece, the biggest of the one-movement Sonatas, using a Lento introduction to establish an ephemeral mystical atmosphere, thereby making the dance and the blazing elements that later appear all the more contrasting. The Ninth is the demonic counterpart of the Sixth Sonata, as well as the true opposite of the seventh. The designation of “Black Mass”, although not proposed by Scriabin himself, was accepted by the composer as illustrative of the black, mischievous forces that lurked in the music. As Bowers adds, the Ninth Sonata “ends with a nightmare march of Gothic visions, ghosts, and distorted horrors - the most raucous page in all Scriabin.”29 The Tenth Sonata, by the other hand, is a positive and shining work dealing with effects of light, always radiant and even blazing at times. It is interesting to observe that Scriabin wrote his last 5 Sonatas following a pattern, as opp. 62, 64, 66, 68, 70. This attests to the organization and structure of Scriabin’s creative process in this last period of his life. In 1914, Scriabin was invited to perform on the English premiere of Prometheus, as well as to give two solo recitals. England was at the time a fertile soil for the sowing of Scriabin's ideology, since the country was, similarly to Belgium, intoxicated by Theosophical mists. England was also closely tied to India, the country that exerted an enormous fascination over Scriabin and where he hoped to stage his Mysterium. According to his plans, this celebration would take place on the bottom of the Himalayas.

28Hull, A. Eaglefield. A Great Russian Tone Poet, Scriabin. London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., Ltd., 1916, p.154. 29Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.244.

22 During this time in England a furuncle appeared on his lip, something that annoyed Scriabin very much since it disfigured his thoroughly treated mustache30. On 1915, and after several very successful recitals both on Moscow and Petersburg (where he performed the last concert of his life, on the 2nd of April), the pimple on his upper right lip returned. Scriabin was feverish and was immediately restrained in bed. The pimple developed into “a pustule, then a carbuncle and again a furuncle”31, and Scriabin’s temperature rose to the point of causing hallucinations. Several medical experts were called, having decided upon various surgical procedures in order to remove the furuncle. Unfortunately, the treatments proved to be ineffective since the infection had already spread, causing blood poisoning.32 Scriabin died on Tuesday, April 14th 1915, at the age of 43, victim of septicemia. Having been born on Christmas Day and died on Easter, it is nevertheless ironic that the life of this musical genius and self-proclaimed Messiah was cut short by such an apparently insignificant event as a pimple on his lip, interrupting his projects and dreams of guiding humanity to a new plane of existence, through Beauty and Art.

30 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.256. 31Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.276 32 Idem, p.278.

23 General Characteristics of the Early Period (Opp.1 – 29)

During all his formative years, Scriabin was very much infatuated with the music of Fryderyk Chopin. He studied it thoroughly and had such an admiration for the art of the polish composer that he would often sleep with the scores under his pillow.33 It is therefore obvious that this influence would be very strongly felt in Scriabin’s initial compositions. This is commonly seen by music critics and historians as a flaw on the part of Scriabin, proof of his early inability to find his inner poetic and creative voice. Although it is true that Scriabin took quite a while until he freed himself from the influences of the romantic generation that had preceded him, one must only listen to some of Scriabin’s early compositions to recognize an original musical personality, a young composer with much to say who would eventually transform into a force of his own. On this topic, the famous Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter stated in an interview:

“Why concern ourselves, with his weaknesses? Of course, you can say he is salon, lightweight and flattering to society ladies and gentlemen in some of his early works, or that he derived from Chopin. But you take his very first etude [C- sharp minor, Opus 2, written when Scriabin was sixteen]. Ah, what heart ... Das Herz. What strengths he had!”34

In this period of his life, since the composition of the Waltz op.1 (1886) up until the Second Symphony op.29 (1902), Scriabin composed almost every work in musical forms that were characteristic of Chopin (the exceptions being the Reverie for orchestra as well as the Two Symphonies). During this period Scriabin produced a total of 57 Preludes, 19 Mazurkas, 13 Etudes, 9 Impromptus, 3 Sonatas, 3 Nocturnes (among them the famous left hand one), one Piano Concerto and other smaller pieces (not counting early works that were posthumously published without opus). Among this incredible amount of

33 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.134. 34 Bowers, Faubion. Richter on Scriabin by Faubion Bowers. in The Saturday Review, p.58. 1965.

24 Chopinesque works, the 12 Etudes op.8 and the 24 Preludes op.11 have direct counterparts in Chopin’s work (12 Etudes opp. 10 and 25, and the 24 Preludes op.28), therefore representing a musical Hommage to the work of the Polish composer. Besides the use of similar musical forms, it is possible to recognize the young Scriabin as Chopin’s direct heir in their common fondness for the piano as the center of their work. This instrument was for both composers the medium through which they projected their ideas, and all of their compositions (even those not written for the piano) have inherent a certain pianistic quality, only achieved by composers skilled on the art of piano playing.

Scriabin’s early period music takes over some of the main qualities of Chopin’s style:

• Melody as the main musical element; long delicate melodic lines gracefully ornamented. • The pianistic adaptation of the bel canto style; the focus on a singing, round and full tone. • The horizontality of the music, as opposed to a more vertical, chordal kind of writing, favored mostly by German composers. • The use of Tempo Rubato as a main element of the music’s Pathos. • The consistent use of various technical difficulties (thirds, sixths, trills, etc.) as devices for the transport of the poetic content. • The demanding technical aspect of the music. • The intimate, delicate and sometimes rather effeminate character of the music.

Although Scriabin borrowed these characteristics from Chopin, he never copied his melodies or his poetic voice but rather used these general elements in order to convey an individual feeling, an original message. One can summarize it by saying that although the musical language used by Scriabin is far from being original, its contents are unique and idiomatic.

25

Sonata No.3 in F sharp minor, op.23

Scriabin finished the composition of the Third Sonata in 1898, in a time of great financial turmoil and uncertainty regarding his personal life. These aspects can partially be the cause for the sonata’s overall dark and somber mood. Faubion Bowers attempts the following explanation: “As the first sonata sustained Scriabin through a physical crisis, the third sonata carries him over the spiritual crisis of his marriage.”35 Although there is some speculation in this sentence, it is nevertheless obvious the great proximity between the First and the Third Sonatas, both permeated with deep despair, pessimism and an obscure and frightening atmosphere. They are also the only sonatas that Scriabin chose to write in four movements, since all the others are either written in two movements (the second and fourth) or in one movement only. The Third Sonata was subtitled by Scriabin États d’âme, portraying therefore different states of the soul, in adversity and triumph. The following description was given at a recital in Brussels in 1906, written by Tatiana de Schloezer, by that time Scriabin’s companion: I The free, untamed Soul plunges passionately into an abyss of suffering and strife.

II The Soul, weary of suffering, finds illusory and transient respite. It forgets itself in song, in flowers. But this vitiated and uneasy Soul invariably penetrates the false veil of fragrant harmonies and radiant rhythms.

III The Soul floats on a tender and melancholy sea of feeling. Love, sorrow, secret desires, inexpressible thoughts are wraithlike charms.

IV The elements unleash themselves. The Soul struggles within their vortex of fury.

35 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.255.

26 Suddenly, the voice of the Man-God rises up from within the Soul’s depths. The song of victory resounds triumphantly. But it is weak, still… When all is within its grasp, it sinks back, broken, falling into a new abyss of nothingness.36

Although it is certainly debatable whether Scriabin devised this programme while composing the music or if it was the result of a time period in which he was giving to every work a mystical explanation, it certainly possesses a suggestive value to it and hints to the ideas that certainly were in the genesis of the work. These elements of suffering, struggle and triumph certainly bring Scriabin philosophically closer to Beethoven, in whose music they constitute core forces.

36 Idem, p.254.

27 I – Drammatico

Exposition

Written in the tragic key of F# minor in a ¾ time, the Third Sonata begins with a first movement of unusual designation, since the Drammatico marking is only but a suggestion of character, rather than the indication of tempo. Right in the beginning of the movement, Scriabin uses various contrasting motives, musical cells that he will use for the remainder of the movement. The opening octave calls in the left hand are used to create an assertive statement, something very common in Scriabin’s work. It is also interesting to observe that this cell is always written in a way that the first octave is an upbeat to the second, but the pedal should be pressed already when playing the first one. The theme can be described as the “Theme of Will”, very common in the beginning of works such as the First and Seventh Sonatas or even the Third Symphony. The answering lines of the right hand in bar 1, contrapuntal by nature (since they are composed by three voices, with the two extreme ones moving away from one another), are a more feminine complement to the assertive masculinity of the left hand octaves. This is a motive of lament, conveying the feeling of suffering and anxiousness through the relationship between the

Example No. 1: First Theme

28 dissonance and consonance created by voice leading. The motion of the right hand in bar 1, a motion of expansion of the voices (labeled in the musical example as Element a), is also counterbalanced in bar 2 with a contraction (Element b). In the end of the initial eight bar statement, Scriabin does a half cadence, continuing in bar 9 in the key of C# minor (v), using exactly the same elements as before however in a much more mysterious and menacing atmosphere, departing from the initial dramatic outbursts. This transformation of character and color is reflected in the change of dynamic (mp instead of f) and in Scriabin’s indication of una corda. In bar 11, Scriabin uses what is here labeled as Element c, an extended, often inverted variant of Element b in the way it uses the same rhythmic figures (mostly triplets), and ends the phrase in four bars, with a dominant seventh chord in B minor (fourth scale degree of the main key).

Example No. 2: Element c

The same material is once again displayed, this time transposed in the key of B minor, having resolved the dominant seventh chord that was presented before. Then, through descending chromatic alterations of the bass line and through the prolonged use on bars 17-18 of a V7 on F (a chord that can also be interpreted as a German sixth, consequently opening multiple possibilities for its resolution), Scriabin leads the music into the key of A major, the relative key of F# minor and the one in which the second theme (bar 25) will be written, following the basic principles of the sonata form. Throughout the transition section37 (bars 9 -25), Scriabin makes consistent use of the Inverted Element c (not to be mistaken for an exact, “Schoenbergian” inversion of the motive, but rather the inversion of its direction).

37 “[…] a passage (bridge) which leads from one main section to another, e.g., from the first to the second theme of a movement.” Transition in Apel, Wili. Harvard Dictionary of Music. Harvard University Press, 1950, p.756.

29 The second theme (bar 25, see Example No.3) is of a completely different nature, serving as a contrasting section to the first theme. It is written in the key of A major, dismissing all the previous drama and turmoil for a calm, idyllic four- part choral, to be played in a slightly faster tempo. The techniques employed between the two themes are also quite differentiated, as Scriabin uses in the second theme a condensed high register in which all the voices move placidly as opposed to the extended register and very harmonic kind of writing displayed in the first theme. This results in a very peaceful, spiritual kind of music, lasting only six bars (25-30). After that, Scriabin uses Element c from the first subject group and presents us with a poco scherzando passage, a kind of music that could easily belong to his third symphony, for its whimsical, light and delicate features connect it with the Divine Play.

Example No. 3: Second Theme and pocco scherzando passage

30 In the passage shown above, which will take us all the way until the codetta, Scriabin mixes different elements (Element c and the second part of the second theme, as well as the left hand octave calls from the first theme) and creates a polyphonic tapestry of imitations, eventually resolving in the outmost tenderness and candor in bar 43 in the restatement of the first theme, this time in the key of A major. The Codetta of the exposition (bars 43-54, Example No.4) consists of the reappearance of the first theme in A major (bars 43-46), an overlapping section of the first theme in the left hand and the second theme in the right hand (bars 47-50) and a final stabilization of the key of A major through repetitions of the first theme’s opening bar in a downward movement. The key of A major and its calm mood are preserved until the last chord in bar 54, a German sixth on A, which will enable the development section to begin in the dark and troubled key of C# minor.

Example No. 4: Codetta

31 Development

In the development, Scriabin takes all the elements that he had previously used and combines them together, employing extended and fragmented versions of the motives, nevertheless forming coherent musical phrases. These motives include the first theme’s left hand octave calls, Element a and the second theme in descending motion, both in the right and left hands.

Example No. 5: Beginning of Development

Besides mixing elements from the first and second subject groups, Scriabin also develops them, using extended chromaticism and melodic shifts to prolong the phrase. The chromatic development of the second theme fragment in bars 67-70 is exactly the same as the one Scriabin will use later in the fourth movement, transforming the theme in a long descending chromatic scale with added melodical twitches. Another development technique involves passing a particular motive through different voices, so that the registers in which it sounds make it shine in a different light, giving it a different character (see Example No.6)

32

Example No. 6: Development Techniques

Scriabin modulates in the development section much more often than in the exposition, tonicizing a new key almost every two bars, bringing forth a feeling of agitation and anxiety through the restless harmonic movement. The modulations themselves are done with subtleness, but are the kind one would expect in a late romantic piece, i.e. many enharmonic modulations, extensive use of chromaticism and of modulation to the mediant or submediant. The development section revolves to the initial spirit of the first movement, full of agitation and nervousness. Fragments and extended variations of the second theme are used in a completely different context, that of a dark and stormy atmosphere (exceptions are bars 55-62, when these eerie forces are still lurking in the shadows), depicting the “abyss of suffering and strife” in which the Soul finds itself in. One good example is the retransition 38 starting on bar 83, in the key of F sharp minor (already in preparation for the recapitulation, although the tonic chord is never heard, only dominant and subdominant harmonies), in which Scriabin uses the octave call and Element c in the left hand, while presenting an augmented version of the first part of the second theme in the right hand as a lament of despair. It is also interesting to observe that Scriabin connects the development and the recapitulation through four bars of a sustained German sixth on D (a kind of chord that is rarely prolonged for so long), and eventually resolves it not to the dominant, as would

38 “It prepares for the return of the first subject group in the tonic, most often through a grand prolongation of the dominant seventh.” in Sonata form, Wikipedia.

33 have been expected (especially when resolved to a cadential sixth-four chord), but directly to i, F# sharp minor.

Example No. 7: Combination of motives in the development

Recapitulation

After such an unusual retransition, the recapitulation reintroduces the first theme in all its power and glory in ff dynamic. Scriabin doesn’t, however, repeat the same material exactly as in the exposition, rather introducing in the last two bars (of an eight bar unit) the first part of the second theme, leading the phrase right away to the second subject group. Through this process, Scriabin cuts roughly sixteen bars, those corresponding to the transition section of the exposition. The second subject group and the poco scherzando passage are presented in precisely the same form as in the exposition, only now in the key of F# major. Then, in bars 120-125, Scriabin alternates between the dominant chords of F# major and C major (tritone relationship, a Scriabin favorite and a progression that will acquire tremendous importance in later works), two remote keys that are accessed through chromaticism, especially of the bass line (see Example No.8).

34

Example No. 8: Tritone Progression

This back and forth movement between keys has no apparent purpose rather than surprising the ear, since it is an original idea that had not appeared in the exposition, portraying an abrupt change of color. In bar 129, Scriabin writes a passage in which he again combines many of the individual motives already pointed out in a climactic and glorious phrase (for the only time, he uses the fff dynamic) leading to the final reinstatement of the first theme in bar 133, this time in the bright key of F# major, representing the triumph of the “Soul” over all the difficulties and obstacles that appeared on its path. The movement ends calmly with the same repetition of Element a in contrary motion as in the end of the exposition, like a farewell of the hero after a storm of struggle.

35 II – Allegretto

The Allegretto is used as a Scherzo movement in this Sonata. It is a simpler, less complex creation than the first or fourth movements. It is written in the key of E flat major in a 4/8 time, obeying a ternary A-B-A form. The A part focuses heavily on rhythmical energy and forward élan, using a three octave group in the left hand as the rhythmical propeller on which a melody, quite shallow in its ambitus and not so much of a singing quality, is played in octaves in the right hand (Element a).

Example No. 9: Second Movement Theme

The repetitive motive in the left hand, added to the rhythmical quality of the melody and the systematic crescendi and diminuendi that point to the second bar of the phrase make up for a kind of march, impregnated with a sense of nervousness and agitation. Harmonically, the theme is well rooted in the key of E flat major (since the first three octave group already shows the triad), but the direction of the phrase is highlighted with a sudden major seventh chord on the lowered sixth scale-step in bar 2, a suspension chord of increased tension. Scriabin repeats the two bars (although with an alteration of the major seventh to a minor seventh chord), after which the melody starts an upward movement until it reaches the E flat minor chord on bar 6, resting

36 afterwards on the dominant chord in bar 8. This eight-bar unit is once more heard, this time in the dominant key of B flat major. The section referring to bars 1- 16 can be labeled structurally as a, a subpart of A. On bar 17, starting with an upbeat begins the subpart b. Although the initial rhythmical energy is still present, the music is written in a much more contrapuntal way, with the right hand imitating the material that the left had played one bar before. The lines are broader and there is a greater sense of motion and direction. The first four bars (17-20) are in the key of F minor and are suspended on the dominant chord in bar 20; the following four bars being an exact transposition in the key of C minor. Then, a joyful fanfare in A flat major brings the music back to E flat major, through the use of dominant chords (exact and altered forms) in bars 28 to 30. Essentially, this b part is a sequencing of the same motive (identified as Element b in Example No.8), first in F minor, then in C minor and finally in A flat major, leading to B flat major, dominant of the main key. The march (corresponding to subpart a’) returns on bar 31 exactly as before. A small section is added in bar 39, where a group of three octaves in the left hand is put against a similar group of three octaves in the right hand (having as its generator cell an acceleration of the three octave group in the right hand in bar 38), provoking, through their constant clashes, a descending progression of fifths of increasing agitation and dynamic intensity.

Example No. 10: Descending progression of fifths

37

This four-bar parenthesis will lead to another appearance of the March, this time played in an ecstatic and climactic stretto, with a much broader register and with a louder dynamic (ff as opposed to the normal p marking). The key of E flat major will be broadly stated in bell-like repetitions of the triad chord, but in the last moment the bass E flat will be used as a pedal note in a dominant seventh chord built on B flat, suspending the phrase until the modulation to A flat major, in which key the B part begins (see Example No.11). Again, Scriabin uses the B part as a complete reverse of the A part, like he had previously done with the first and second themes of the first movement. The B part is a wonderful, dreamy and graceful section, full of dance-like gestures decorated with garlands. It is certainly the part that Tatiana de Schloezer referred to as: “The Soul, weary of suffering, finds illusory and transient respite. It forgets itself in song, in flowers.” In clear opposition to part A, this section is conceived in a contrapuntal manner, rather than harmonic one. It is a consistent alternation between two bars of a lyric polyphony (written in pp dynamic), where four voices move in small intervals (see Element c, Example No.11), and two subsequent bars of a more vertical nature, with the two hands sharing an arabesque type of line, resulting in a very dance-like, sensuous kind of music (Element d).

Example No. 11: Part B

38 The B part is written in the placid key of A flat major, and starts with an upbeat on a dominant seventh chord on E flat. The feeling of harmonic stability is very vague, since Scriabin uses mainly dominant type harmonies (on V, ii) and intentionally avoids the tonic chord. In the end of the fourth bar of the theme (bar 54), the phrase is suspended on the dominant (E flat), while on the second time on C, therefore modulating to the relative key of A flat major, F minor. Throughout bars 59-66, Scriabin writes a small development, extending Element c into an ascending chromatic melody, while the other voices continue the arabesque gestures in downward motion, hence enlarging the register and the emotional tension. In this passage, he goes through the keys of F minor and then B flat minor. Upon arriving a high point in bar 63, the soprano voice has a kind of melodical sigh (descending major third and perfect fourth), while the other voices start a chromatic movement in a downward trajectory. All these polyphonic intricacies result in a descending progression of fifths, leading to a dominant chord on A flat on bar 66, which will lead to a D flat major section. This section (bars 67-72) has a very rhythmical, dance character, with all four voices articulating every 8th note. All the chords in this passage are disposed in their root position, giving the section a more earthly and human character opposed to the crystal, spiritual and heavenly sounds of the beginning of the B part. After jumping back and forth between chords in bar 70 and 71, Scriabin will solve the feeling of tonal fragility with a dominant seventh chord on E flat, which will take us to the repetition of the first phrase in A flat major. This restatement is then followed by the transposition of the phrase in D flat major, followed by another descending sequence of fifths ending on a dominant seventh chord on B flat, opening the door for the return of the march in E flat major in bar 83 (corresponding to the A’ part). The ensuing A’ part is an exact repetition of bars 31-47, i.e. the last section of the A part, the only difference being a small insistence of one bar on the lowered sixth scale-step chord in the closing stretto phrase (bar 99), before the final culmination in an ecstatic fortissimo E flat major chord.

39 III – Andante

The Andante presents itself as a beautiful, heavenly Intermezzo. Like Scriabin is reported to have said, “Here, the stars sing…”39, or as Tatiana de Schloezer wrote in the explanatory notes, “The Soul floats on a tender and melancholy sea of feeling”. Written in a ¾ time in the key of B major (a strong disruption from the second movement’s E flat major), the music is crafted in a way that all voices provide harmonic support to the singing line of the soprano, while keeping their melodic interest. As all the other movements of the Sonata with the exception of the fourth, the Andante starts with an upbeat and, like the second movement, is written in ternary A-B-A form.

Example No. 12: Third Movement Theme

39 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.255

40 The A part is a gleaming, loving song, played in the upper register of the right hand. As the top voices of both hands move in contrary motion, the two other voices in the right hand provide the necessary harmonic filling in a regular 8th note movement, while the bass notes in the left hand supply the deeper foundations for the sound, allowing it to sing with a crystalline quality. The eight bar period can be subdivided into two phrases for a more in-depth analysis. The first phrase (bars 1-4) consists of two ascending and then descending movements of the melody (Element a), firstly being suspended in a seventh chord on the second scale-step (bar 2) and finally in a dominant seventh chord (bar 4). In both places, Scriabin introduces two accented octaves in the left hand after the suspension chords, as a bell motive that confirms the harmony. In the second phrase (bars 5-8), the melody takes the form of a fragment of Element a, and does a greater stretch upwards, followed by a downward gesture. The left hand accompanies the melodic contour of the soprano by moving in a contrary direction, therefore enlarging the register and the emotional charge of the phrase. This is a very ambiguous and vague kind of music, one that travels in the field of dominant sonorities. The most important chords used in the A part by Scriabin are built on the V, ii and vi scale-steps, used to create a feeling of fragility and tonal freedom as if the music were floating weightless in the air. The B part (see Example No.13), on the other hand, is a very earthly section. It bears the marking doloroso, portraying sorrow and sadness through the use of the gloomy key of G sharp minor. The wide register covered, the dark and deep sound of the left hand as well as the chromatic mumbling of the right hand’s lower lines in 16th notes movement, all contribute to the lamenting character of this section. The phrases are again organized in eight bar units, being the last four bars an exact repetition of the first four. The main melody is a sustained line in the tenor register of the left hand (Element b), made up of long accented notes. This theme is counterpointed by a more flexible descending melody in the soprano register (Element c), a lament of sorrow which bears the doloroso indication. The first bar is built on the dominant while the second resolves to the tonic. In the third and fourth bars of the phrase (corresponding to bars 19 and 20), a deep dark line of octaves appears in the bass in an ascending movement contrary to that of the right hand (it is essentially an inversion of Element c,

41 previously stated on the right hand), both converging to a dominant chord (bar 20). The four bars are then repeated.

Example No. 13: B Part of Third Movement

From bar 25 until 29, there is a certain development of these elements by the use of fragmented motives. One could also say that a kind of operatic gesture is employed here, as there are sudden changes of dynamic (forte and piano) associated with two distinct registers in which the motives appear, as if two characters of a drama were declaiming the same line, giving them different meaning and emotional outline. Afterwards, the music gains an improvisatory feeling, moving in a chromatic fashion, finding its way through a progression of altered and highly expressive chords until reaching F sharp major in bar 32 (the dominant of the main key), making it possible for the return of the initial melody, once again in the bright key of B major. In the A’ part (beginning in bar 33 with upbeat), Scriabin uses all the previous main elements, namely the floating dreamy melody and the harmonic support in the left hand, but replaces the 8th note chords used as the filling in the A part with a 16th note accompaniment reminiscent of the B part, therefore combining elements of both sections and making the transition from one section to the next much more organic and natural. After a brief parenthesis in bars 41-43 (comprised of repetitions of previous fragments and the acceleration of the “filling” motive from 16th notes to 16th note triplets), the main theme makes its last appearance with an upbeat

42 to bar 44, this time in the tenor voice (played with the left hand thumb), while the 16th note triplets are entrusted to the upper voice of the right hand. Other identifiable elements are the arpeggi in the left hand (typical in Scriabin’s work, as they are played from top to bottom, displaying the root of the chord only on the second half of the first beat) and the 8th note accompaniment in the inner parts of the right hand, reappearing to provide extra harmonic support to the main melody.

Example No. 14: A’ Part

The combination of these elements makes for a shift in the melody’s character and feeling. Instead of the original ethereal and sublime feeling present in the beginning, here we have a more human kind of sound, as if sung by a tenor or played by a cello. It is a warmer passage, with a big stretching of the register (the overall span is over 4 octaves). A stable chord of B major is reached in bar 49 in the bass, after which the 16th note triplets of the right hand

43 start a downward movement in dissolution, as if the curtain were closing. The movement could have easily come to an end here, but Scriabin ingeniously added a small coda of eight bars, to link the third and fourth movements together. Scriabin’s mastery is showed through the summoning of the first movement’s theme, using it as a prophetic symbol of the slow changing of fate.

Example No. 15: Coda

The Coda is also used to build a bridge between the shiny key of B major and the dark, mysterious key of F sharp minor, in which the fourth movement will unfold. The chord progression used in this bridge is most interesting: • B major (bar 51) • minor seventh chord on B (bar 52) • E major (bar 53) • a French sixth on D, resolving to a cadential C sharp six-four chord, thereby making the connection with the main key of F sharp minor (bar 54).

44

The French sixth on D, due to its disposition and the surprise it causes, has a special coloring effect. The following cadence (bars 55-58) uses a combination of the octave call from the first movement and an anticipation of one of the motives of the fourth movement. Through a crescendo of intensity, velocity and dynamic the idyllic atmosphere of the Andante is left and we enter, without any respite, the troubled realms of the Presto con fuoco.

45 IV – Presto con fuoco

Written in the Sonata’s main key of F sharp minor in a ¾ time, and returning to the sonata form used earlier in the Drammatico, it can be said that the fourth movement completes the circle, by evoking the mood of struggle and agitation found earlier in its counterpart, the first movement. If anything, this epic odyssey is here even darker and filled with more vicissitudes than before. As the programme states, “The elements unleash themselves. The Soul struggles within their vortex of fury”.

Exposition

The first theme is composed of eight bars, four plus four, each group containing an individual generating idea. Accompanied by restless arpeggi of ruthless technical difficulty in the left hand, Element a is stated in the right hand in bar 1, consisting of an ascending perfect fourth interval followed by a descending chromatic line of the same span. This motion is carried out between C# (fifth scale-step) and F# (first scale-step) and then back. This element will be used in the most varied ways throughout the movement. The first bar is built over a tonic chord, whilst the second over a dominant seventh chord.

Example No. 16: First Theme

46 After an exact repetition in bar 3 and 4 of the previous idea, Scriabin introduces in bar 5-8 a new element (Element b), basically a fragment of the initial Element a. This will serve as a connecting motive, and by means of its brevity, will force a greater harmonic agitation. After bar 9, these elements will be once again articulated and sequenced. In bar 17, while still in the key of F sharp minor, a first emotional high point will be reached, when a juxtaposition of Element a (placed on the left hand in octaves) and an extended variant of the same element in the right hand takes place. This extended variant is then restated in the left hand in the exact same way, while the right hand plays Element b in response. On bar 25 starts the transition section, functioning as a bridge between the first and second subject groups, preparing the new key in which the second theme will be displayed. It consists of a sequencing of the first eight-bar period, with an abundant use of Element b, making it possible to modulate from F sharp major to A major, the relative major key of the second theme. The second theme, marked Meno mosso, is once again the absolute opposite of the first. Similarly to the second theme of the first movement, this is also a four-part harmonic section, although it is too focused on the lyricism of the upper voice to be deemed a choral.

Example No. 17: Second Theme

47 This is a tender and beautiful melody, one that “became the baby’s [Rimma’s] first lullaby”40. Its melody is of a very flexible nature, covering a big span with frequent switches in direction. It consist of two phrases, each of four bars, the first in A major and the other tonicizing the dominant, E major. This theme will be further developed as of bar 49, this time with an unusual accompaniment made of metrically displaced triplets, since the last triplet of each group is the one to coincide with the beat. This technique, used frequently by Scriabin in his compositions, creates a feeling of instability and of dance-like elasticity. A small codetta (bars 59-70), already in the key of F sharp minor, connects the exposition to the development, being essentially a repetition of bars 1-10 plus two added bars of expansion.

Development

The development will continue to deal with these elements, mainly extending them and subjecting them to prolonged sequencing sections filled with chromaticism. Starting in bar 71, Scriabin devises an eight-bar unit that will serve as the model for extended sequencing. This period is once again divisible into two groups of four bars. The first group has the usual arpeggi in the left hand, supporting the A major key, while the right plays an extended version of Element a, i.e. a long descending chromatic line with the span of a minor ninth with ascending melodic twitches for the sake of expressiveness. In the last two bars, a dominant ninth chord is displayed on the raised fourth scale-step (D sharp), leading the listener to expect a resolution on the key of G sharp minor. Instead, Scriabin writes an interrupted or deceptive cadence, modulating to the key of E major, in a V9-bVI progression.

40 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume I, p.252

48

Example No. 18: Development

The second group of four bars will stabilize the key of E major, exhibiting the same descendent chromatic line in the right hand (the rhythm cell is taken from the second bar of the previous group) but using as counterpoint in the left hand a different kind of arpeggio, one that highlights an ascending chromatic progression of the bass. Therefore, both right and left hands have chromatic lines in contrary motion, resulting in a passage of strong dissonance and harmonic tension. This eight-bar unit will then be repeated a first time in bars 79-86 (first group in E major, second in B major), and a second time in bars 87-94. On this last repetition, the first group of four bars will be in the key of B major, following the sequencing principle, while the second group takes the key of G flat major (the enharmonic equivalent of the expected F sharp major), maintaining the layout of the first group (the extended arpeggio and absence of a chromatic line in the left hand). This means that the last two bars of this G flat four-bar group will also display the important #IV7 dominant harmony (bars 93- 94), but rather than modulating to F major or even D flat major (as was the rule

49 before), Scriabin decides to enter the B flat minor key (bar 95), therefore modulating to the relative key of an already unexpected harmony (D flat major). To summarize the complex harmonic movements between bars 71 and 95, we can observe the keys of A major (bar 71), E major (bar 75), B major (bar 83), G flat major (bar 91) and B flat minor (bar 95). It can be concluded that, besides the unforeseen modulation to B flat minor, Scriabin uses an ascending fifths progression in this long development section. The section concerning bars 95 to 102 functions as a parenthesis, consisting of four groups of two bars, using at first an inverted version of Element a (i.e. a ascending chromatic motion of a perfect fourth) and then the literal Element a. The section serves as a brief culmination to the previous exceedingly long sequence, being written in the f-ff dynamic range, using an ample register of the piano and octaves in both hands in order to produce a massive body of sound. A large fugato segment will then follow in bars 103-116. Scriabin uses Element a doubled in octaves as the subject, displaying it in an upward direction in canonic fashion, meaning that the subject appears first on the bass, one bar later on the tenor, then alto and finally soprano. Because Element a doesn’t exceed the duration of two bars, only two voices are heard simultaneously at all times. Each statement of the subject is transposed up a perfect fourth (a transposition by T5, five semitones), and for every new statement of the subject in the bass (every four bars), a transposition of a semitone ensues.

Example No. 19: Fugato section, Development

50 After moving via chromaticism from the tonal center of B flat to that of D (the fugato section is so overwhelmingly chromatic that any feeling of tonality is nothing but ephemeral), Scriabin displays in bar 117 the kind of climactic outburst that was already present in bars 17-20, a juxtaposition of two Elements a, one literal (left hand) and one extended and inverted (right hand), this time in the key of D major. The same connecting passage, noticeable in bars 21-24, is repeated in bars 121-124, thus leading to the recapitulation in a most unusual fashion, since it doesn’t restate the first subject group (maybe because its main elements were already used exhaustively) instead starts directly in the transition section, skipping therefore twenty-five bars of the exposition’s music.

Recapitulation

The recapitulation starts in the key of D sharp minor (notice the sudden change in the key signature) and uses exactly the same material as in the transition to reach the second theme, appearing on bar 137, this time in F sharp major. Until bar 166, everything appears as an exact repetition of the exposition, although in the keys of F sharp major and its relative D sharp minor. On bar 167, the main phrase is transposed in B major and then again to G major. After another section (bars 175-182) where sequencing techniques are employed around Element b, a more stable C sharp major (the dominant of the main key) area is reached in bar 183, where, above deep octaves played in the left hand in quarter note triplets, Element a appears, first in the tonic and then on the lowered second scale-step.

Example No. 20: C# major Section, Recapitulation

51

Scriabin will then associate Element a in the right hand with a slow chromatic progression in the bass from C sharp to E sharp, using it as part of the dominant seventh chord on C sharp, therefore entering the Maestoso section, corresponding to the Coda, already in the key of F sharp major.

Coda

The Coda is the grandiose culmination of the Sonata. It is the ultimate expression of bliss and joy, the overcoming of all difficulties, pure ecstasy. In the words of Tatiana de Schloezer, “The song of victory resounds triumphantly”. It is also the completion of the full circle, for it combines elements from the third and fourth movements, as if to bring the entire Sonata together for an exhilarating celebration of victory. The coda uses a magnified version of the third movement theme (transformed from 8th and 16th to half and quarter note values), supported by thick chords and octaves in the left hand. The dynamic marking fff, along with the massiveness of the writing makes for a climactic jubilation, a strong departure from the previous dreamy and loving nature of this theme. The fourth movement’s Element a is also brought into play, providing occasional comments to the main melody, whenever a sustained suspended chord takes place (e.g. bar 206-207).

52

Example No. 21: Maestoso Theme, Coda

Harmonically, this theme is treated in a similar way to that of its first occurrence in the third movement, since it doesn’t confirm undisputably the F sharp major as the tonic chord, instead wandering in the field of dominant sonorities (V, ii7). This was already a trademark of the Andante’s first theme, and Scriabin doesn’t depart from this technique. Even the F sharp major is always used as a major seventh chord resolving on IV, therefore not giving a sense of stabilization but rather of constant floating movement. As in the third movement, the contour of the melody is of a semicircle, i.e. at first ascending and then descending, arriving at a suspension on a minor seventh chord in the second scale-step, where it is immediately juxtaposed with Element a of the fourth movement. The chord accompaniment of the left hand is also atypical, for it uses the metrical displacement technique that was previously observable, in which the lowest octave (therefore the strongest) comes in the weak part of the bar, i.e. in the third beat, giving it a feeling of imbalance and uncertainty.

53 The main period consists of twelve bars, of two phrases of six bars each. The first one is suspended in the above-mentioned ii2 chord (minor seventh on the third inversion), while the second phrase rests in a dominant seventh chord on C sharp with a pedal note on the tonic. After this twelve-bar exultation, the melodic outline of the first four chords of the Maestoso theme will be used in conjunction with the repetition of the fourth movement’s Element a (played in the bass) in order to bring the music back to a state of calmness and quietude (bars 214-224). This is achieved through a big and long diminuendo, from fff to pp in the span of eleven bars, as well as a result of the deepening of the register, as to symbolize the withdrawal of the ecstatic elements. Suddenly, the harmony changes to the final F sharp minor, as the Soul “sinks back, broken, falling into a new abyss of nothingness”. This contrast between F sharp minor and major symbolizes the dichotomy between victory and hopelessness, therefore being an element of decisive programmatic importance.

Example No. 22: Final Section, Coda

54 On top of the ever present theme of the fourth movement played in the left hand (bar 225), a whirlwind of ever growing intensity and frenzy, made up of relentless 16th notes played in the right hand around the F sharp minor chord, brings the music to the last fatal chord exclamations. These three chord interjections, played in ff dynamic, confirm F sharp minor as the Sonata’s opening and final key and, most importantly, witness the Soul’s final damnation.

55 General Characteristics of the Middle Period (Opp. 30-59)

With the creation of the Fourth Sonata op.30 (composed in 1903), Scriabin becomes finally and definitely independent, free from Chopin's grasping influence. He is not yet in the zenith of his creative powers, but he certainly initiated the path that will lead him to the formulation of a unique language. Obviously, this process of self definition din not happen overnight but was rather the refinement of his ideas and the discovery of new possibilities and new paths within his music. Already in the Second Sonata op.19, a work composed during a five year period, the listener can find hints and premonitions of a new kind of sound that would later crystallize with the Fourth and especially with the Fifth Sonata. With those works, Scriabin reached a new kind of music, a sensual, erotic one, full of mystery, ambiguous in its meaning and glowing with desire. In the same way Chopin had been the main inspiration behind his earlier compositions, Wagner and, more importantly, Liszt, are Scriabin’s main sources of inspiration during this period. It is reasonable to say that by this time, Scriabin was very much spiritually connected with the Liszt of the Mephisto Waltz, not just because he was composing in a similar way, but because he was searching for the mischievous, for the ironic, for the subtle and sensual qualities in sound in the same way Liszt had been, almost fifty years earlier. This connection can be felt in some of the Lisztian harmonies of the Fourth Sonata, as well as in the heroic and epic chord cascades in Poéme Tragique op.34. More illustrative, however, is the Poéme Satanique op.36, composed in the fruitful year of 1903 (the Third Symphony, Fourth Sonata, the Poémes op.32, etc., were all composed within that year). In Poéme Satanique, Scriabin uses contrasting elements such as seduction, sarcasm, delicacy and grandeur to portray the deceiving devil.

56 Again, Sviatoslav Richter gives us insight about these aspects in his interview with Faubion Bowers:

"Do you know where all, all of Scriabin comes from ... in one single passage? Guess.” He [Sviatoslav Richter] raced to the piano and played the sinister, sickly-sweet, singing middle-section tune of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz. Yes, I thought, it was Liszt who first put the devil in music.41

As a result of his first contact with the works of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in 1905 and his assimilation of its terminology and ideology with his own developing doctrine, Scriabin’s music developed considerably in this period. His music became much more refined, and through the exploration of prolonging dominant harmonies and their alterations, the deepening of his knowledge of chromaticism and the equalization of the importance of the melodic and harmonic dimensions, Scriabin led his music into the ethereal and sublime. He began to insist in different kinds of chord dispositions, mainly in fourths, and through the extended use of dominant harmonies created the illusion of the suspension of time and matter. The human sorrows, longings and joys that could be felt during his earlier period are now replaced by a more contemplative, intangible quality, filled with subtle nuances, colors and perfumes. One of his mottos and guidelines for his compositions was "From the greatest delicacy (refinement), via active efficacy (flight) to the greatest grandiosity" 42 , words that accurately reflect the impressions of the listener when confronted with these works of mystical enchantment.

41 Bowers, Faubion. Richter on Scriabin by Faubion Bowers, 1965, in The Saturday Review, p.58 42 Bowers, Faubion. The New Scriabin: Enigma and Answers. Newton Abbot London: David & Charles, 1974, p.55

57 Quatre Morceaux op.51

The Quatre Morceaux (Four Pieces) op.51 were composed in the year of 1906, in a time when Scriabin was going through a period of great turmoil in his personal and professional life. Scriabin’s wedding to Vera Isakovich was, by then, completely finished and he was already sharing his life with his new companion and muse, Tatiana de Schloezer. Nonetheless, the wedding was still the cause of a great deal of discomfort for Scriabin, as Vera Isakovich refused to concede a divorce, leaving Tatiana in an awkward social position. This situation infuriated Scriabin, as he wanted to introduce his new companion to his social circles and also because the whole topic could possibly have damaging consequences to his reputation. Besides his marital situation, Scriabin was also under a lot of pressure as a result of his rupture with the Belaieff firm, due to sudden changes to the payment of some of his pieces. This split left Scriabin without a publisher, a severe situation for a composer, leaving him unable to spread his musical and philosophical thoughts and, just as important, putting him in a deep financial crisis. The Quatre Morceaux op.51 come in between batches of piano miniatures, be it in the form of Preludes (the 4 Preludes op.48) or Pieces (op.49 and op.52)43, and precede the creation of one of Scriabin’s masterworks, the Fifth Sonata op.53, written the next year. The prevalence of short, brief piano pieces in this period of Scriabin’s life can be easily explained by the multiple distresses that were troubling him at the time, which were most certainly taking a great deal of his time and the necessary mental discernment for continued musical creation. Furthermore, Scriabin was already invested in the composition of what would become one of his most massive compositions, The Poem of Ecstasy, to be completed in 1908. The comprising pieces of op.51 are surely individual acts of creation and should be considered separately, seeing that there is no element (neither tonal nor motivic) connecting them. Furthermore, each piece has a distinct atmosphere, an individual personality, and the techniques employed in each of them are extremely varied. The brevity of the pieces we are about to address does not reflect the considerable amount of creativity and ingenuity that were

43 Opus 50 and 55 were not used by the composer (Author’s Note).

58 put into their genesis. By the contrary, the fact that these pieces are so short is in this case ideal, since they can present in a succinct, crystallized fashion, the compositional mechanisms and techniques that Scriabin was developing, leading him to the establishment of his own system in later works.

59 Fragilité

Fragilité is a most interesting piece. Long gone are the days when Scriabin was dealing with the struggling of the human Soul, with the overcoming of barriers, with the Nietzschean ideal of “Übermensch”. By 1906, Scriabin was very much invested in his fresh acquaintance with the Theosophical movement, through the reading of H.P. Blavatsky’s “The Key to Theosophy” and later “The Secret Doctrine”. This spiritual development, this search for new metaphysical answers had undoubtedly a repercussion in Scriabin’s compositions. In Fragilité we see ourselves already lost in mystical fumes, in sweet fragrances and indistinguishable shapes. Written in the key of E flat major in a 2 /4 time, it is structured in a binary form and bears the Allegretto tempo marking. The piece hovers in the pp – p dynamic range, reaching forte only once, and for a short spell of one bar, immediately returning to the previous quietness. Fragilité contains three distinct elements that are used throughout the piece: a crystalline series of chords played in the right hand in a steady 8th note pace (marked limpide) of which the top voice is the only one melodically important; a sustained long melody in the tenor register (marked cantabile) played by the left hand; and finally, wave-like arpeggi figures in the left hand, descending until the second beat of the bar, only to come back again to connect with the tenor line.

Example No. 23: Fragilité, first phrase

60 It is very interesting to compare the right hand chord disposition of Fragilité to the jumping right hand chords of the presto con allegrezza section of the Fifth Sonata op.53 (written the next year, 1907). Their morphological similarities imply that those Sonata passages, as Faubion Bowers recognizes, “are transformations of Fragility and make of it a preparatory etude”.44 What makes Fragilité special is the way Scriabin handles the harmony. Although written in E flat major, the tonic chord is rarely stated, in fact, almost all sonorities are made up of sustained thirteenth and ninth chords, gliding from one to the next, losing the necessity of resolution to a consonant chord. They exist by themselves, having acquired considerable autonomy, no longer living exclusively to be used in a particular chord progression. These chords appear many times with embellishments, “color” notes that are added to give a special sonority or to serve as passing notes but aren’t really a part of the harmony, making the analysis of the progression much more difficult, a matter of interpretation. If we take the first eight-bar period, we can observe a major seventh chord on bII (F flat, bar 1) then a dominant thirteenth chord on B flat (set 5-24, the subset of the famous Mystic chord 6-34, first beat of bar 2); this progression is repeated in bars 3-4, followed by triadic chords on vii and vi (bar 5) and a prolonged thirteenth dominant chord on the II (bar 6-7) leading to another one this time on the V in bar 8. As we can see, there isn’t any chord built on the first scale-step, a chord that can unquestionably affirm the key of E flat major. The sensation of tonality is rather perceived by the listener through the proximity of the harmony to the main key. The other remarkable aspect is the unique way in which Scriabin displays his chords. Although they are clearly rooted in a tertian/functional harmony, they are displayed most of the times as a stack of fourths, hinting to Scriabin’s “discovery” of the Mystic chord. While not changing the tonal function of the chord, this alternative disposition completely changes its color, giving the notes far more space between them, allowing the chord to have a greater ambitus, resulting in a more suspended or floating kind of sound. This is immediately observable in the left hand arpeggio of bar 2, when the descending movement consists of one augmented fourth and a minor seventh (equal to the sum of two perfect fourths). This kind of chordal disposition can be observable throughout Fragilité, and its origins can be traced back to earlier works such as the Fourth Sonata op.30.

44 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.176.

61

Example No. 24: Fourth Sonata op.30, left hand arpeggio

The melodic dimension is also different from the kind of writing displayed in the Third Sonata, for example. The tenor line, consisting of a sustained melody, not having normally more than two notes per bar, is complemented by the translucent figures of the right hand, serving as a complementary melodic element. The right hand jumps most of the time between chords, giving the top melody a flexible and playful character. In other cases, however, the melody takes on a more chromatic direction, as is observable in the following example:

Example No. 25: Chromatic Motion of the Right Hand

The B section starts at bar 45, making use of the familiar elements that were already discussed. The harmonic feeling is of bigger stability, since the chord progressions present in this section are much closer to the tonic, namely the I, ii, IV and V scale-steps, although dominant ninth and eleventh chords with altered notes are still abundant. The phrase displays a more chromatic melodic contour in the right hand, rather than the initial playful one, ending on the tonic triad with an appoggiatura on the tenor on the raised fourth scale-step (bar 51), resolving to the fifth scale-step in the next bar.

62

Example No. 26: B phrase, second appearance

The phrase will be stated once more (bars 53-60, see example above), being afterwards fragmented into smaller and smaller parts as repetitions, as to confirm the stabilization of the key and the subsequent slowing down of the harmonic rhythm until the final E flat major, appearing as a sustained harmony for the last seven bars. As one can observe in Example No.26, bars 61-64 consist of the repetition of the last four bars of the main B phrase, bars 65-66 correspond to its last two bars, bars 67 and 68 to the last bar of the phrase and its repetition, before the emergence of the final crystalline chord of E flat major in bar 69, ending the piece effortlessly.

63 Prélude

Bearing the marking Lugubre, a most unusual description for Scriabin, this Prélude confirms the spiritual affinities between the middle period Scriabin and the late period Liszt. In fact, the Prélude bears many similarities with Liszt’s Lugubre Gondola in its dark, desolate mood and the barcarola rhythm present in both works. 6 A through-composed work, written in A minor in /8 (typical of a barcarola rhythm), the Prélude can be seen as an etude on the dissolution of the minor and major keys, since the listener remains unsure of the piece’s tonality until the very end. Scriabin does this by mixing the harmonies of A minor and F major together, so that every time an A minor chord is expected, it contains the colored F note, giving it ambiguous meaning and tonal definition. The single “pure” A minor chord appears as the final harmony of the piece, as if to finally allow the music to get closure and rest. The other harmonic detail of structural importance to the piece is the systematic use of an altered seventh chord on the raised fourth scale-step (#iv7) that Scriabin uses in opposition to the F major/A minor chord, thereby functioning as a substitute dominant. Scriabin himself gives us some hints about the context involving the composition of the Prélude, in his confidences to Leonid Sabaneev "Oh, let's not talk about this! This is a ghastly piece! [...] I was in an appalling situation back then. This Prélude, and also the Marche funèbre in the First Sonata formed in moments disheartenment... But only these two!"45 As Faubion Bowers attests in his biography of the composer, “Scriabin called it ‘the string breaker’, claiming it could if played correctly, break the strings of the piano.”46 The first period consists of the typical eight bars, being also divisible in two phrases of four bars. Bar 1 and 2 are made of long sustained chords in the left hand, presenting the unusual opening major seventh chord on F, while the right hand (always playing thirds) dwells on notes close to the A minor chord, arriving by chromaticism to a French sixth (a chord very much favored by Scriabin, set 4-25, a subset of the Mystic chord) only to resolve back to the F seventh chord. Bars 3 and 4 portray more movement as the two hands wave

45 Sabaneyev, Leonid. Erinnerungen an Alexander Skrjabin. Verlag Ernst Kuhn, 1925/2005, p.94 46 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.110

64 back and forth from the above- mentioned #iv7 (simultaneously a German sixth on the F, the sixth scale-step) to the omnipresent F major seventh chord. After an enharmonic spelling of the same #iv7 chord as a dominant seventh on F (third inversion), the following two bars (5 and 6) pull the music towards D minor (although the tonic chord only appears in the second inversion) through the placement of yet another #iv7 (or German sixth on B flat) and its uncanny resolution to the tonic. Bars 7 and 8, bring the music to the field of E minor, using for that effect seventh chords on ii and V, reaching a half cadence in the first beat of bar 8. It can therefore be concluded that the first four bars are of a more suspended nature, with the harmony and melody mixing in a floating mist of sound; the second part is of a more melodic quality, since the right hand has a real melodic line, with more chromatic contour, unfolding over suspended altered seventh harmonies in the left hand, in a section with greater harmonic rhythm than previously observable.

Example No. 27: Prélude, Main Theme

The same elements will be then transposed to the key of E minor (bars 9- 15 with upbeat) until an unexpected tonal shift will draw the music to G minor, where it will be suspended and its fragments repeated, until a chromatic

65 modulation brings it back to the field of A minor (bar 18 and 19, clearly noticeable through the bass progression to the dominant E). The nuclear #iv7 harmony, functioning as a substitute dominant, will be repeatedly played in bars 22-25, each time covering a higher register in a bell-like effect.

Example No. 28: Prélude, conclusion

After these echoes, giving the impression of dissipation of time and matter, the first four bars of the main phrase are restated, completing the circle and allowing the curtain to close. This is done with a resolution of the #iv7 substitute dominant on the A minor chord, appearing finally in its pure form without any foreign note, the only time in the root position, as if to confirm the hidden identity of the piece, revealing its true naked colors.

66 Poème ailé

Poème ailé is the only piece of the group with a lively, whimsical 2 character. It is written in the key of B major in /4 time, without any general tempo marking and obeying an A-B-A structure. The piece’s title refers to its brevity as well as the flight feeling that is present throughout, due to the use of a motive of special rhythmical acuteness (for that reason it will be hence labeled as the flight motive). Scriabin’s tempo markings, changing from one bar to the next, give this piece a tremendous temporal flexibility, confronting moments of placid tranquility with sudden rushes of adrenaline. Again starting with an upbeat (a special fondness of Scriabin), the piece is based on fast, repeated spasmodic movements of both hands in contrary motion, enlarging the ambitus until a high point is reached, after which this run is repeated. The texture of the flight motive in the right hand, the fact that the two hands play in a contrary motion and the general ascending direction of the music, as if taking off, all bear interesting similarities with Chopin’s Etude op.25 no.3 in F major.

Example No. 29: Poème ailé, Main Phrase

67

This eight-bar period can, once again, be divided in two phrases. The first one, rooted in B major, is a nervous unfolding of dominant harmonies, always enlarging the span of the intervals, progressing from a dominant ninth interval (between the left and right hand beat notes) to an eleventh and then a thirteenth, both appearing in bar 2. This flow of dominant chords is then interrupted by a seventh chord on the lowered second scale-step (bII, in this case C7), only to be once again suspended in the dominant ninth chord (bar 4). The use of the bII harmony is especially dear to Scriabin, since it serves the double purpose of secondary dominant (bV/V) while simultaneously opening modulatory possibilities to the main key’s most remote tonality (e.g. in the key of B major, the bII chord allows the modulation to F major, B major’s opposite in the circle of fifths). The second part of the musical period repeats the same process in the key of E major (IV of the main key). The same dominant sonorities still prevail, but this time a tonic chord is played between the dominant ones, making for a more typical dissonant/consonant passage. In the last two bars (7 and 8) Scriabin uses the tonic chord (E major) as an enharmonic spelling of bII of the key of E flat major, enabling him to do a bII, V, I progression (E, B flat, E flat), therefore finishing the phrase surprisingly quite far from the key of B major.

With a deeper analysis of these eight bars, we can discover some peculiarities that prove Scriabin’s development of other systems, besides functional harmony: • Firstly, if we consider the melody in the right hand and its rhythmical cell, we can observe that this three note group is always displayed in a descending motion of tone/semitone, therefore having its contour borrowed from the octatonic scale. • Secondly, if we take the following group of notes from the first bar and consider the notes E, A#, D#, F# and G#, we can observe that they constitute a 5-24 set, i.e. a subset of the Mystic chord (lacking only a C). Subsets of 6-34 (the Mystic chord) are not only observable in the first bar, but in the same note configurations in all the remaining bars, except the chords on the first beat of bar 2 and its repetition on bar 6. This attests to the fact that Scriabin was already

68 using harmonies that are “relatives” of the Mystic chord, meaning that he was now composing in a tonal system impregnated with whole-tone and octatonic elements.

The B part will start in the meno vivo marking on bar 8. The lento is merely a parenthesis, a dominant seventh chord on A devised to make the tritone connection between the two E flat major chords that surround it. The B part is not really rooted in any particular key, but instead uses a chord progression by tritone. This technique is responsible for repeated interchange between dominant chords on A and E flat (bars 8-9, see Example No.30). The C7 chord in bar 10 is reached via chromaticism of the bass line, going from E flat (root of the dominant chord) to E (the third of the dominant seventh on C). The dominant seventh chord on C will then be alternated with its tritone relative, G

Example No. 30: B Part, Poème ailé flat, in a downwards movement. The right hand carries on with the previous flight motive in bar 9, but adds a top line marked espr., causing an ascending movement and expansion of the music (bar 10), followed by the consequent release in a descending motion of the flight motive. This four bar section will then be transposed by T2 (two semitones ). This will result in the same alternation between chords on D and A flat in bars 14-15.

69 On bar 16, a new kind of sound will be formed through the juxtaposition of wide dominant chords and the flight motive on the left hand with a big line of massive chords on the right hand, moving in a chromatic way. The harmonies

Example No. 31: B Part, Poème ailé

will once more shift between G7 and D flat 9 (tritone span). It is important to note the formation of a 7-34 set in this phrase (see Example No.31), a superset of the Mystic chord. This two bar phrase will be transposed by a perfect fifth, placing the C and F sharp harmonies in confrontation in bars 18-19. All this is done within a forte dynamic, resulting in a more massive, climactic section, as opposed to the whimsical, flight nature of the initial music. The whimsical part A will return in bar 24 with an upbeat, after several repetitions of the inverted flight motive, as if sneaking its way out of the previous chord aggregates. The A part will be repeated in its precise form, but instead of modulating to E flat major as in bars 7-8, it will use a chromatic movement of the bass from B to C, combined with the previous exact chord progression (bII, V, I) to reach the final B major chord.

70

Example No. 32: Conclusion, Poème ailé

Scriabin writes this progression in a most hesitating way, using pauses to convey the feeling of uncertainty, transforming in the last moment the flight motive in a lento descending ornament that leads as an upbeat to the final B major chord, dissolving all questions in a moment of utmost delicacy.

71 Danse languide

The term languide 47, is one that entered Scriabin’s vocabulary in the middle period. It was already used in previous pieces, such as the First Mazurka op.40, but merely as a punctual remark of character. The Danse languide and the Poème languide (op.52) are the only two pieces that make this feeling their central representation. It will also play an important part in the future Fifth Sonata. Danse languide is a dance in the realm of the fantastic. The impression caused is that of an otherworldly music, free from the constraints of time as if it were floating in another dimension. The portrayed act of dance is always passive and weary, never acquiring a willful or playful character. To obtain the musical representation of this mood, Scriabin resorts to an extremely vague and ambiguous harmony, never trespassing to the atonal field but leaving the tonal possibilities as wide as they can be. 4 Danse languide is written in the key of G major in /4 time and presents a ternary A-B-A’ structure. As was the case already in Poème ailé, the piece displays no tempo marking, since the title and the music itself carry enough suggestiveness for the performer to choose an appropriate one. A rhythmic cell reminiscent of the Habanera rhythm is played from the beginning to the end of the piece, creating a stable base for the music to float on. Like all the pieces belonging to op.51 with the exception of Fragilité, Danse languide also starts with an upbeat, since the music begins on the second half of the bar. In accordance with Scriabin’s inflexibility with musical form, the main period lasts once again eight bars and can be divided into two phrases of four bars. The first four chords consist of the interaction between a dominant ninth sharp five chord on the lowered sixth scale-step (bVI9#5) and a dominant seventh sharp eleventh chord on the lowered second scale-step (bII7#11, the chord can be enharmonically interpreted as a French sixth). Both chords are structurally significant, because the lowered second scale-step will be in the

47 “languid • adjective 1 (of a person, manner, or gesture) having or showing a disinclination for physical exertion or effort: his languid demeanour irritated her. • (of a period of time) relaxed and peaceful: the terrace was perfect for languid days in the Italian sun. 2 Weak or faint from illness or fatigue. - DERIVATIVES languidly adverb, languidness noun. - 0rigin late 16th cent. (in sense 2): from French Ianguide or Latin languidus, from languere (see LANGUISH). “ in Languid. The Oxford Dictionary of English, edited by Stevenson, Angus. OUP Oxford, 2010.

72 core of the piece’s harmonic movements and because both chords are not only based on the whole-tone scale but are also subsets of the Mystic chord (sounding therefore immediately Scriabinesque). The complete progression until the resolution in bar 4 is the following: bVI9#5, bII7#11, bVI9#5, bII7#11, bII7, V13, V9#5, I. This is a quite traditional kind of progression for Scriabin, since it never loses the grab of the tonality while exploring some of its remote zones (bVI9#5).

Example No. 33: Danse languide, Main Period

73 While the first group of four bars is, as seen above, resolved in G major (I), the second will repeat the initial progression (bVI9#5 to bII7#11), and then via a transposition of T2 (bar 5) will move into another dominant seventh sharp eleventh chord on B flat, resolving afterwards to a major seventh chord on E flat major. This major seventh chord prevents the cessation of the progression, since it is not a triadic chord and cannot therefore serve as the end station. Scriabin uses this E flat major seventh chord as a temporary respite, offering a misleading feeling of tonal stability, only to move away from it with a tritone movement to a dominant seventh chord on A, arriving on bar 8 in the key of D major. Besides these harmonic progressions, which are very typical of Scriabin’s middle period, with extensive use of altered dominant sonorities and of the lowered second scale-step, it is also very interesting to observe the way in which Scriabin displays the different voices throughout the piece. The main melody is played in the contralto register (normally played by the thumb of the right hand), with long sustained half notes moving in a chromatic motion with occasional ascending intervals. This melody is supported by a chord played in the last 16th note of the first and third beats, providing the dance element by placing the chord on the light part of the bar. This chord encompasses a considerable register and has a very distinct sound as a result of its voicing: the left hand always plays a minor seventh and a subsequent tenth on the second beat of the bar, while the right hand has normally a sixth on top. This happens in all the dominant harmonies, meaning that Scriabin chooses the thicker intervals on the bass and the thinner ones on the top, so that the chords are voiced in a harmonic way, providing a rich reverberation for the melody in the middle register. It is also worthy to observe, on a more dry statistical perspective, that, of all the 16 chords contained in bars 1-8 (first phrase), 14 of them are subsets of the Mystic chord (6-34 set) and 9 of them are subsets of the whole-tone scale (6-35 set). This highlights the genesis of the Mystic chord as an expanded altered dominant chord and shows Scriabin’s development of a system in which these sonorities (along with whole-tone and octatonic ones) progress freely from one to the other without any functional constraints, rather focusing on harmonic color.

74 Sets Frequency of Occurrence Subset of 6-34 Subset of 6-35 5-33 5   4-25 4   5-24 2  x 4-27 2  x 4-20 2 x x 3-11 1  x Total 16 14 (87.5%) 9 (56.25%)

The B part starts in bar 8, displaying a new kind of harmonic organization. It consists of a simple alternation between tritone harmonies in an overall ascending movement. The effect created is that of a continued suspension, without any sense of tonal belonging. This technique is somewhat of a rehash of the progressions observable in bars 11-12 and 15-16 of Poème ailé. The first wave-like progression puts a triadic B flat chord on the first inversion against a dominant ninth chord on E, while the second (bars 11-12) transposes the passage by T10, interchanging an A flat major chord in the first inversion with its tritone counterpart, a dominant ninth built on D. The A’ part will then make its reappearance, through a chromatic movement of the bass from D to E flat (the initial bVI chord). At first, it will apparently resolve its dominant harmonies in the D flat major (bar 15), but Scriabin writes this chord with an added major seventh (similar to what he had done in bar 7 with the major seventh chord on E flat), forcing the music to progress after a long pause, as if to take a breath to regain the necessary strength to conclude the dance.

Example No. 34: A’ Part, Danse languide

75

The last three bars are the repetition of the previous dominant seventh chord on A flat (that had before advanced to D flat major) and its alternative resolution. Acting as the nuclear bII7, the A flat chord will progress to its tritone relative, a dominant thirteenth chord on D (V), before finally resolving to the concealed main key of G major in the last chord of the piece.

76 General Characteristics of the Late Period (Opp. 60 – 74)

With the composition of Prometheus: The Poem of Fire op.60 in 1910, Scriabin reached a new stage in his creative process. He had succeed in creating a complete system, a musical language in which he was able to integrate such broad elements as harmony and philosophy in order to create a Gesamtkunstwerk that could excite all senses, provoking humankind’s ecstasy and transfiguration. Prometheus was a first attempt at such a work, bringing together a big symphony orchestra, piano, choir and the unconventional color organ in the realization of a kind of multimedia work, integrating music and the colors that Scriabin, as synesthete, felt as direct correspondents to the musical manifestations. Although being very ambitious and visionary for its time, Prometheus was only the first omen of Scriabin’s desire to create a universal work of art, a celebration of life itself. This envisioned magnum opus was to be the Mysterium, a projected magnum opus that would serve as a ritual for the passing of mankind to a new plane of existence, and a work whose conception consumed Scriabin for many years until the time of his death. The Mysterium would include a multitude of artistic manifestations and would arouse the five senses of the audience through the incorporation of dance elements, caresses, colors and perfumes. The public would not only experience this art work but actively participate in it, using dance as the medium to enter a state of trance, of ecstatic bliss that would lead to the dematerialization of all things and the fusion with the Oneness, hence bringing forth the Apocalypse. This transfiguration desire was fuelled by Scriabin’s own megalomania and mysticism, as he felt he was the chosen One, the one person capable of guiding humanity to that existential breaking point. As Bowers points out, “Over the years, Scriabin's philosophy underwent certain changes, but it retained a curiously steadfast, almost monotonous consistency whose central ingredients were monomania, megalomania and mysticism, in the sense that the power of the mind is unlimited and all worldly manifestations are either subject to its control or even created by it."48

48 Bowers, Faubion. The New Scriabin: Enigma and Answers. Newton Abbot London: David & Charles, 1974, p.119

77 It is possible to say that all his compositions of the last period, written in the time span of 5 years, were a kind of preparation for this monumental and apocalyptical work, a schematization of ideas for posterior use. Such is the case with Guirlandes, one of the Two Dances op.73, a piece he intended to choreograph in the Mysterium.49 Scriabin was also playing with light, fire, color and dance elements, exploring their musical representations and producing music of unprecedented originality. He was composing in a unique way, having evolved from the suspended altered dominant chords of the middle period to a sound-world constructed around his Mystic chord and the octatonic scale. “I decided that the more higher tones there are in harmony, it would turn out to be more radiant, sharper and more brilliant. But it was necessary to organize the notes giving them a logical arrangement. Therefore, I took the usual thirteenth-chord, which is arranged in thirds. But it is not that important to accumulate high tones. To make it shining, conveying the idea of light, a greater number of tones had to be raised in the chord. And, therefore, I raise the tones: At first I take the shining major third, then I also raise the fifth, and the eleventh—thus forming my chord—which is raised completely and, therefore, really shining.”50 Scriabin’s harmonic language got progressively more complicated, using combinations of the whole tone scale and the octatonic scale, disposing the harmonies in unseen ways, eventually using chords that would encompass the twelve tones (as seen in his sketches for the L'acte préalable). He found a system that progressed from the realms of 19th century tonal music, opening new musical paths and perspectives while obeying to his general message and philosophy. He was on a parallel path to that of Debussy and Schoenberg, also searching for new means of musical expression, but Scriabin’s system was established circa 10 years before Schoenberg’s twelve-tone technique (which was invented in 1921). He was also the first to envision a universal work of art that would submerge the audience in a full spectrum of sensations, exciting their every sense, using all technological means available at the time.

Who can predict how far he could have reached, if it wasn’t for his tragic and precocious death at the age of forty-three?

49 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p. 264 50 Sabbagh, Peter. The development of harmony in Scriabin's works. Universal Publishers/uPUBLISH.com, 2001, p.24.

78 Vers la Flamme, Poème op.72

Vers la Flamme (in English, Toward the Flame) is one of Scriabin’s last piano works. It was written in 1914, one year before his death. Originally thought as a piece for orchestra, then as the 11th Piano Sonata, it eventually ended up being composed in the form of a Poem, although it is one of the longest. Scriabin got to play the piece in Kharkov in March 1915, in a tour of the Russian provinces.51 As one of his last compositions, Vers la Flamme is an ideal demonstration of Scriabin’s development, both in the composition itself and in its mystic programme. The title of the piece suggests a continuous movement of an observer toward a flame (the object); at first, far away from one another, with the distance being progressively reduced to the point when the observer becomes willfully engulfed in flames of dissolution, as the climactic finale is reached. Another interpretation of the piece can be the evolution of a small incipient flame into an incontrollable all-consuming inferno. For pianist Vladimir Horowitz, one person that had direct contact with Scriabin as a child, “the piece was inspired by Scriabin's eccentric conviction that a constant accumulation of heat would ultimately cause the destruction of the world.”52 Though possible for many different interpretations of this suggestive title to coexist, it is obvious that Vers la Flamme is an approximation to the ideal of the Mysterium, therefore carrying with itself fatalistic apocalyptical associations, caused by Scriabin’s own megalomania and delusion. Nonetheless, the title bears a very interesting psychological perspective, in the way it implies a first person experience, a sense of motion toward something menacing, a narrowing of an initial distance and a movement from an initial duplicity (observer/object) to the final dissolution in unity. Vers la Flamme’s harmony operates around the quartal harmony that Scriabin developed from the altered dominant chords of the Middle Period, culminating in sonorities related to the Mystic chord. The 6-34 set (corresponding to the Mystic chord), 6-34 subsets and other related to octatonic and whole-tone supersets are used extensively.

51 Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. Dover Publications, 1996, Volume II, p.269 52 Horowitz in television footage included in "Horowitz: A Reminiscence", TV broadcast 1993. Released as Kultur Films DVD 2007.

79 At first sight, Vers la Flamme appears to be conceived in a through- composed way as the result of the constant development and natural unfolding of the music. However, it would be most abnormal for Scriabin to compose in this way, since he was always very strict in the definition of clear structures in all his works, building a tight frame within which his creativity could freely roam. One can in fact, upon an attentive analysis of the piece and a comparison between the its many different sections, detect strong structural forces keeping the overall coherence of the work, although allowing its unfolding and sense of forward motion. It is the author's belief that Vers la Flamme can be classified as a piece of ternary structure, i.e. in A-B-A' form. The A part, encompassing bars 1-80 and a total of five sections, consists of the unfolding of the elements from a point of quietude to that of ebullition. This is a slow and patient process, with new musical elements being introduced far away from each other, building new layers on top of the already existing ones. For each time one of these new elements comes into play, a new section will ensue. This makes for a great number of smaller sections within the greater A part (sections a through e), each corresponding to different stages of musical development. This slow musical evolution explains the A part’s length (80 bars of a total of 137). The B part consists of an extended musical boiling point, so to speak. It represents the unleashing of the elements, the rise of forces previously asleep. It is a short climatic section of only 26 bars, where Scriabin displays a violent representation of crackling fire and menacing flames. The A’ part shows the thematic elements observable in the beginning, displaying them in the frantic mood inherited from the B part. This 31 bar section is a complete culmination, bringing together motives and textures from previous sections in an intensification leading to the final explosion in the Coda.

Structure A B A’ Sections a b c d e f g h Coda Bars 1-26 27-40 41-65 66-76 77-80 81-96 97-106 107-124 125-137

80

Part A

Section a (bars 1-26):

Scriabin uses a small thematic model of 6 bars that will be continuously transposed and restated, later being transformed and enriched with new elements, however maintaining its melodical contour. The thirds played as an upbeat to the first bar chord show already an element of structural and thematic relevance: the ascending half-tone interval in the higher voice.

Example No. 35: Vers la Flamme, Section a

The main theme is anchored in the first bar chord sonority, a subset (4- 25) of the Mystic chord, a harmony built from its four lower tones. The sonority created (due to the register and the pp dynamic in which it is played) is an obscure and mysterious one (as indicated by Scriabin’s marking sombre), as if an unknown danger were lurking in the darkness. If we sum all the tones appearing from bars 1 to 4 (since in bar 5 the first bar chord is transposed by T3), we get a complete 6-34 set, proof that Scriabin is using the Mystic chord as the frame in which the music unfolds. On top of a pedal augmented fourth, the right hand rambles over the higher tones of the Mystic chord in a wave-like movement. On bar 5, the phrase is suspended for two bars on an identical chord as the one from bar 1, but this time a minor third higher. This is not done immediately on the beat, since the right hand first plays a double note appoggiatura, resolving in a semitone contrary motion to B and F (respectively,

81 the fourth and third tones of the Mystic chord on G). The theme is repeated in bar 7, maintaining the root G that appeared already in bar 5. We can therefore say that the theme is transposed by T3 (bars 7-12), therefore resulting an increment on the inner nervousness of the music. A suspension on the B flat Mystic chord subset will be reached in bar 11, similar to the one on bar 5. This chord will sound continuously, moving then on bar 18-19 through a chromatic dislocation to a triadic B minor chord (through a contrary motion between bass and soprano). The above-mentioned progression will be repeated from bar 20 (with upbeat) to 24 with an added fifth voice, placed on the top, corresponding to the top note of the Mystic chord. It is interesting to observe that with this addition the chord forms a 5-33 set, both a 6-34 and a whole-tone subset. The phrase is resolved into a B minor/major seventh chord on bar 23. Bars 24-27 (with upbeat) are a repetition of the previous four, only an octave lower, leading to the deep minor/major seventh chord on B in which the section b will start.

Section b (bars 27-40):

The section b contains more of the sustained interplay of chords (now written in a five-part harmony) with an added element that will turn to be the most important motive of the whole piece. It consists of a descending semitone between an 8th note and a long sustained one, the latter appearing always in the second beat of the bar, both to be played tenuto. From this point on, this rhythmic/melodic cell will be designated as the flame motive, since it represents a compression of the flickering movement of the flame. The genesis of this motive can be traced to an inversion of the semitone relationship between the chord in bar 1 and its upbeat. The minor/major seventh chord on B (now with an added major ninth, as result of the flame motive) serves as a dominant to the following 5-28 set (Mystic chord subset, lacking only the top note). The melodic motion unfolding in bar 30-31 is inspired by that of bar 3, although not an exact duplicate. The sforzato chord appearing on bar 33 (5-32, an octatonic subset), serves as the culmination of the phrase, an expansion of the harmony.

82

Example No. 36: Vers la Flamme, Section b

It is therefore possible to conclude that in section b, Scriabin makes greater use of harmonic resources, not only using subsets of 6-34 (as in the a section), but combining it with seventh chords and even octatonic subsets. Fragments of the phrase are then repeated in bars 35-41, however without the reappearance of the melodic motion in bar 30 and 31. A surprising harmonic motion from bar 40 to 41 leads us to a dominant type of harmony: a dominant minor ninth chord on E, in which the c section begins

. Section c (bars 41-65):

With this new harmony, highlighted by the avec une émotion naissante marking, starts the section that will be responsible for awaking the unfolding urges of the music, for stirring up the fire. This change is demonstrated by a transformation in the textures involved. Instead of the previous massive chords, above which the music floated in a mist of sound, we now have a more polyphonic left hand, with sustained notes on the upper part (moving simultaneously with the right hand’s top note) and a waving line of perfect fourth quintuplets (E and the lower B) on the deeper register. The right hand states the flame motive on the top while in the lower part a line of the same wave-like contour as the left hand’s alternates between a D and a lower G sharp (tritone interval). This floating line has however a complete different rhythm

83 than the left hand one, changing between 8th and quarter notes. The juxtaposition of these two lines form a complex rhythm of nine (in the right hand) against five (in the left hand), portraying, for the first time in the piece, a sense of awakening, of development, as if something was starting to rise from the depths.

Example No. 37: Vers la Flamme, Section c

The phrase will only last eight bars, the last two being an anticipation of the harmony that will develop in the next repetition, just like we had seen in bars 5-6. It consists of the layering of a pedal dominant chord in the left hand with a chromatic movement of the right hand from a diminished seventh chord (bar 41: G# D F) to a quartal chord made of one augmented and one perfect fourth (bar 42: G C# F#). This process is repeated once in bars 43-44, then opening suddenly in bar 45 to a major ninth chord built from two perfect fifths. In conclusion, the overall feeling is that of harmonic expansion and forward motion. The complete phrase will be twice transposed, in bars 49 and 57, both times by T8. The third restatement of the phrase will introduce increased melodic movement of the flame motive, being played in the right hand. The motive will be excited through the use of repetition, developing itself, although in a hesitant way, in an ascending form, reaching previously unused high registers and extending the ambitus in which the two hands play.

84 Section d (bars 66-76):

With the marking avec une joie de plus en plus tumultueuse begins section d. It is basically the continuation of section c, the development of the previous agitation into an incontrollable frenzy. Nevertheless, it introduces new elements, such as: • Spreading of the left hand’s quintuple in an arpeggio figure, encompassing a wider and deeper register. • Occasional appearance of a group of five descending 16th notes, in a rash and fiery way. • A connecting ascending glissando-like figure in the right hand (bar 73), adding to the ever growing anxiety. • The incorporation of the melodic gesture from bar 3 in the midst of all the already mentioned elements.

Example No. 38: Vers la Flamme, Section d

With an intensification of the excitement levels, we arrive to an explosion on bar 77, the last stage before a sustained climax.

85 Section e (bars 77-80):

The section e begins with the above-mentioned explosion, consisting of a chord (set 5-25, an octatonic subset) followed by the nervous flickering of two major seconds separated by a semitone, played in a frenetic motion of 16th note triplets. It is important to state that the whole section is nothing else than the glorious affirmation of the 7-34 set (i.e. a Mystic chord on E with an added perfect fourth on top), since it corresponds to the sum of all the pitch classes in bars 77-80. This is used as a substitute dominant, since Scriabin will progress in bar 81 to a B major ninth chord via a tritone resolution.

Example No. 39: Vers la Flamme, Section e

It is in the midst of these glowing sonorities that Scriabin uses the melodic gesture of bar 3 (that had announced its reappearance in section d) to create a loop of 6 intervals symbolizing the accumulation of energy, highlighted by cataclysmic chords in the left hand, until an unbearable point is reached leading to the outburst of bar 81 onwards.

86 Part B

Section f (bars 81-96):

With a tritone progression from the E Mystic harmony of the previous bars to a B flat dominant ninth chord, as well as the establishment of fortissimo as the main dynamic along with the indication Éclantant, lumineux, we arrive to both part B (corresponding to the full-fledged climax) as well as section f. Section f consists of a rehashing of section b but in a frantic way, integrating new elements to portray this incontrollable excitation, while keeping the most important motives previously heard.

Example No. 40: Vers la Flamme, Section f

It brings the flame motive back, absent from the transitory section e, played on top (marked comme une fanfare) and supported harmonically by the wide wave-like arpeggi figures in the left hand (reminiscent of those of section d, only now compressed into 8th note quintuples). The flickering motion of the right hand’s seconds in section e is now evolved into a tremollando figure between the intervals of a perfect fourth and an adjacent major third. This element is written, not in an undefined way, as Liszt would have done, but rather in a measurable way, with slurs between certain chords for an increased effect of instability, of noncyclical unpredictability of the flame’s flickering. Bar 84 sees a reallocation of the tremolo one minor third above, for increased dramatic tension, while the melodic motion from bars 30-31 is restated in the top. The same sforzato chord that had been displayed for the first time in bar 33 appears again in bar 87, this time no longer an octatonic subset but rather a subset of the Mystic chord (set 5-24). The full Mystic chord is then unfolded in the ascending tremolo figures filling bars 87-88, symbolizing the incontrollable forces of the unleashed fire.

87

Example No. 41: Vers la Flamme, Section f, Melodic Motion

Bars 89 to 96 are essentially a transposition of the previous eight bars by T9, although the sets used by Scriabin are not always the same, therefore showing a different harmonic coloring of familiar elements.

Section g (bars 97-106):

On bar 97, and after two long phrases of almost unbearable intensity, begins the section g. It functions as a reminiscence of the a section, stating repeatedly a four part chord similar to the one in bar 1, although the set used this time is 4-27 and not 4-25. Nevertheless, the sum of all the pitch classes in bar 97 configures a 7-34 set, i.e. a Mystic chord set with an added perfect fourth on the top.

Example No. 42: Vers la Flamme, Section g

88 More important than these harmonic intricacies, is the inclusion of a completely new element, one composed of two perfect fourths played in repetition, obeying a vigorous rhythmical cell that has its origins in the first tremolo figures in the right hand (bar 82 for example). It is a matter of opinion and interpretation, but it seems to the author of this thesis that this element tries, by means of its repetition and its rhythmical intensity and drive, to convey the musical sensation of light. Indeed, this was a long personal quest of Scriabin (he was already trying to represent light in his Second Symphony op.29), as he was pursuing the musical integration of all kinds of visual phenomena. I will therefore call this six-chord group the light motive, for it portrays the effect of radiant flashes of light above the depths represented by the reappearing first bar chord (set 4-27), putting two elements of conflicting symbolism against each other. The light motive will for now substitute the flame motive, since in section a the latter had not yet been introduced. The flashing effect of the light motive is all the more emphasized by a frenetic tremolo played by the left hand in the contralto register (written for the first time in an undefined way, without any ties between notes), between a diminished fifth and a minor third, used as means to convey the delirious agitation of the music and the consuming powers of the uncontrollable fire. The elements in bars 97-98 are alternated with the ones in bars 99-100, the nervous climbing of the flames that we have already contemplated in bar 87, forming once again a 7-34 set, an extended Mystic chord with the root on the note E. The process will be repeated all the way up to bar 107.

A Part’

Section h (bars 107-124):

Section h brings section a back in its entirety, therefore structurally consubstantiating the A’ Part. The same chords are present (although with different dispositions) and the exact same notes constitute the melodic movements of both sections, but the character differences between them could not be bigger. This contrast between the beginning and the end of the piece is a representation of the transformation of matter, for the same musical elements are showed in a complete new light, from the greatest darkness to the shiniest clarity, from the biggest passivity to the outmost raging agitation.

89

Example No. 43: Vers la Flamme, Section h

The four-part chord of section a is now juxtaposed with the light motive and its respective tremolo figure (appearing on the second beat of the bar), giving the passage an overwhelming sense of nervousness. The melodic motive from bar 3 appears again in bar 109, but instead of finishing with a suspension, the melody will repeat itself in bar 110, in a similar way to what Scriabin had already done in section e. The six bar model is then transposed by T3 in bars 113-118, followed by the suspended B flat extended Mystic chord (the extra note being the F).

Coda (bars 125-137):

The Coda is reached in bar 125, consisting of the prolongation of an altered thirteenth chord on E (can probably be better perceived as an extended incomplete Mystic chord with a raised seventh, set 6-z25), and its alternation with a B flat dominant seventh chord section (similar to the one present in bars 13-15). Scriabin uses the B flat dominant seventh chord as a substitute dominant (at the interval of a tritone), concentrating the energy in a short crescendo and resolving in an outburst to the E chord.

90

Example No. 44: Vers la Flamme, Coda

These complex harmonies are only the support for the integration of the flame motive and the light motive, appearing for the first and only time together. The flame motive makes its appearance in full glory (bar 125, after the chord), as a complement to the E fortissimo chord explosion, as if reaffirming the powers of transfiguration of the elements.

Example No. 45: Vers la Flamme, Final Dissolution

Due to the accumulation of all these elements, the Coda is written in three staves, something that had not happened until this point. The piece then comes to an end, with the light motive flashing even brighter in the upper register while the E thirteenth chord is broke down into its individual components in an ascending motion, as if the elements were dissolving, arriving the final 13th (C sharp) simultaneously with an octave on E in the left hand. The effect is that of a final outburst, created after a long accumulation of energy, bringing the piece to a close in a final ascending movement of rapturous euphoria.

91 Final Remarks

Scriabin is a unique case in Music History. Never before or after him did a single composer have a greater and faster evolution in his musical style. Scriabin’s style developed enormously, all the way since the first piano miniatures written in the shadow of Chopin, when he was but a teen, up until his last years’ megalomaniac projects of world transfiguration, at the adult age of 43. The manifestations of this musical evolution are very clear in the music, as each one of Scriabin’s compositions pointed him new directions, new musical possibilities for his ideas to unfold. In order to shed some light on the reasons that prompted such a development, the author of this thesis considered of outmost importance the inclusion of the composer’s biography, in order to clearly identify Scriabin’s spiritual development, as well as the external vicissitudes that he had to overcome during his lifetime. Indeed, Scriabin’s biography gives us crucial information concerning the context in which his works were written, and more importantly regarding his philosophical and spiritual growth, up to the point where megalomania had taken over his psyche. It also shows the composer in his social habitat, displaying the relationships that were partly responsible for shaping his personality. Scriabin is also portrayed as a man of the world, having set up residence in Switzerland, Russia, Italy, Belgium, France, while simultaneously touring Europe and the United States as a composer-pianist. This certainly contributed to the universality of his music, its visionary ambitions and the contemporaneity of his mystic philosophy. The second part of the thesis, focusing on the analysis of the three selected piano works, is responsible for the practical demonstration of Scriabin’s development, both as a composer and as a philosopher. It shows the differences between the spiritual programmes of the three pieces, motivated by the composer’s evolving ideals, and the development of his unique compositional procedures. The harmonic perspective is an important part of the analysis, since it is the musical element more directly connected to Scriabin’s inner world; in fact,

92 the evolution of Scriabin’s harmony travels parallel to that of his philosophical development. This process is demonstrated throughout the selected works: the tragedy of the Sonata No.3, with its youthful cry against Fate’s challenges, composed using tonal principles infused with chromaticism; the Quatre Morceaux op.51 and its inebriating mystical perfumes and tender caresses, organized around prolonged dominant chord progressions and altered sonorities; and finally, the cataclysmic unfolding of Vers la Flamme, with its flashes of light and flickering fire bringing the world to an ultimate dissolution, using for that purpose altered and extended variants of the Mystic chord, as well as the octatonic scale, independent from any tonal constraint.

Through the demonstration of all these elements, the author of this thesis hopes to have contributed to a better understanding of Scriabin’s work in connection with his personal development, arousing the interest and curiosity of those not closely familiar with the genius of this fascinating composer.

93 Bibliography

Books:

Baker, James M. The music of Alexander Scriabin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.

Bowers, Faubion. Scriabin, a Biography. New York: Dover Publications, 1996. 2 Volumes.

Bowers, Faubion. The New Scriabin: Enigma and Answers. Newton Abbot London: David & Charles, 1974.

Hull, A. Eaglefield. A Great Russian Tone Poet, Scriabin. London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., Ltd., 1916.

Schloezer, Boris de. Scriabin: Artist and Mystic. Translated from Russian by Nicolas Slonimsky, with introductory essays by Marina Scriabine. Berkley: University of California Press, 1987.

Sabbagh, Peter . The development of harmony in Scriabin's works. Universal Publishers/uPUBLISH.com, 2001.

Schimdt, Michael. Ekstase als musikalisches Symbol in den Klavierpoèmes Alexander Skrjabins. Pfaffenweiler : Centaurus-Verlagsgesellschaft, 1989.

94

Münch, Martin. Die Klaviersonaten und späten Préludes Alexander Skrjabins : Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Harmonik und Melodik. Berlin : Verlag Ernst Kuhn, 2004.

Schibli, Sigfried. Alexander Skrjabin und seine Musik : Grenzüberschreitungen eines prometheischen Geistes. München: Piper, 1983. Heyman, Katherine Ruth. The Relation of Ultramodern to Archaic Music, Boston : Small, Maynard & company, 1921, p.111.

Eberle, Gottfried. Zwischen Tonalität und Atonalität : Studien zur Harmonik Alexander Skrjabins. München, Salzburg: Musikverlag Emil Katzbichler, 1978.

Sabaneev, Leonid L. Erinnerungen an Alexander Skrjabin. Berlin: Verlag Ernst Kuhn, 2005

Apel, Wili. Harvard Dictionary of Music. Harvard University Press, 1950.

95

Articles:

Perle, George. Scriabin’s Self-Analyses. in Music Analysis, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 101- 122. Blackwell Publishing, 1984.

Bass, Richard. Half-Diminished Functions and Transformations in Late Romantic Music. in Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 41-60. University of California Press, 2001.

Wai-Ling, Cheong. Scriabin's Octatonic Sonata. in Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 121, No. 2, pp. 206-228. Taylor & Francis, Ltd, 1996.

Callender, Clifton. Voice-Leading Parsimony in the Music of Alexander Scriabin. in Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp.219-233. Duke University Press, 1998.

MacDonald, Hugh. Lighting the Fire: Skryabin and Colour. in The Musical Times, Vol. 124, No. 1688, Russian Music, pp. 600-602. Musical Times Publications Ltd., 1983.

Lunacharsky, Anatoly. On Scriabin (1921). Commentary and Translation from the Russian by Don Louis Wetzel. in Journal of the Scriabin Society of America Vol. 8, No. 1, 2003

Bowers, Faubion. Richter on Scriabin by Faubion Bowers. in The Saturday Review, p.58. 1965.

96

Sabaneev, Leonid. Scriabin. On the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of His Death. Translated by S. W. Pring, in The Musical Times, Vol. 81, No. 1168, pp. 256-257. Musical Times Publications Ltd., 1940.

97 Dissertations:

Barany-Schlauch, Elizabeth A. DMA Thesis: Alexander Scriabin’s Ten Piano Sonatas: Their Philosophical Meaning its Musical Expression. 1985.

Wise, Herbert Harold Jr. PhD Thesis: The Relationship of Pitch Sets to Formal Structure in the Last Six Piano Sonatas of Scriabin. 1987.

Shergold, Roderick. M.A. Thesis: Harmony and Voice Leading in Late Scriabin. 1993.

Sukhina, Nataliya. DMA Thesis: Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915): Piano Miniature as Chronicle of his Creative Evolution; Complexity of Interpretive Approach and its Implications. 2008

Wetzel, Don Louis. PhD Thesis: Alexander Scriabin in Russian Musicology and its Background in Russian Intellectual History. 2009.

Ballard, Lincoln Miles. PhD Thesis: Defining Moments: Vicissitudes in Alexander Scriabin's Twentieth-Century Reception. 2010.