UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Transcending Imagination; Or, An Approach to Music and Symbolism during the Russian Silver Age Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/92f9x7r2 Author Rowen, Ryan Isao Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Transcending Imagination; Or, An Approach to Music and Symbolism during the Russian Silver Age A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology by Ryan Isao Rowen 2015 © Copyright by Ryan Isao Rowen 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Transcending Imagination; Or, An Approach to Music and Symbolism during the Russian Silver Age by Ryan Isao Rowen Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Mitchell Bryan Morris, Chair The Silver Age has long been considered one of the most vibrant artistic movements in Russian history. Due to sweeping changes that were occurring across Russia, culminating in the 1917 Revolution, the apocalyptic sentiments of the general populace caused many intellectuals and artists to turn towards esotericism and occult thought. With this, there was an increased interest in transcendentalism, and art was becoming much more abstract. The tenets of the Russian Symbolist movement epitomized this trend. Poets and philosophers, such as Vladimir Solovyov, Andrei Bely, and Vyacheslav Ivanov, theorized about the spiritual aspects of words and music. It was music, however, that was singled out as possessing transcendental properties. In recent decades, there has been a surge in scholarly work devoted to the transcendent strain in Russian Symbolism. The end of the Cold War has brought renewed interest in trying to understand such an enigmatic period in Russian culture. While much scholarship has been ii devoted to Symbolist poetry, there has been surprisingly very little work devoted to understanding how the soundscape of music works within the sphere of Symbolism. The question that arises is: what about music can be understood as transcendental? In the Symbolist journal Novyi Put’, Andrei Bely noted the piano compositions of Nikolai Medtner as being the perfect example of theurgy. Bely’s description of this, however, is extremely vague and our understanding of where theurgy lies in the compositional process is hard to grasp. The same ambiguity exists in making sense of the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, whose music is reviewed prominently in Symbolist journals. A composer who tried deliberately to embody the spirit of Symbolism and theurgy in his music was Alexander Scriabin, who planned to compose a seven day long piece that was meant to actually summon the apocalypse. Due to his untimely death, this was a work that never came to fruition. Confusion over the musical construction of Scriabin’s late works, by musicians and scholars alike, is generally coupled with a sympathetic yet dismissive view of his own messianic and maniacal ideologies. The opaque sense of meaning surrounding musical transcendentalism in this repertoire has presented a considerable challenge not only for performers, but for scholars as well. Musicologists have spent a considerable amount of time on the formal aspects of this music, but have still been hesitant in deciphering its meaning. Literary scholars have been able to interpret some semblance of meaning in music described by Symbolist poets, but have not shown where this lies within the music. What is necessary in trying to understand the Symbolist concept of musical transcendentalism and theurgy is a study that attempts to take into account all facets of research. In this dissertation, I present a means by which to understand this music without compromising formal structure, cultural context, or performance. iii The dissertation of Ryan Isao Rowen is approved. Raymond L. Knapp Elisabeth Covel Le Guin Ronald W. Vroon Mitchell Bryan Morris, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One The Image in Mind—A Prelude to Synaesthesia 29 Chapter Two Towards the Flame: Approaching Scriabin’s Apocalypse 111 Chapter Three A Reminiscence of Nature’s Forgotten Melodies 168 Bibliography 218 v LIST OF FIGURES Introduction 0.1 Scriabin, Prelude Op. 74, No. 4 12 Chapter One 1.1 Böcklin, Die Heimkehr 34 1.2 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 1-12 36 1.3 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 13-18 37 1.4 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 19-36 38 1.5 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 37-47 40 1.6 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 37-end 41 1.7 Rimsky-Korsakov, “Song of the Indian Merchant” from Sadko 43 1.8 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, final bars 44 1.9 Brahms, Piano Sonata in F Minor Op. 5, Second movement 57 1.10 Brahms, Piano Sonata in F Minor Op. 5, Fourth movement 58 1.11 Böcklin, Isle of the Dead, 1880, New York version 70 1.12 Böcklin, Isle of the Dead, 1883, Third version 73 1.13. Böcklin, Isle of the Dead, Fifth version, 1886 73 1.14 Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead (Moscow: Gutheil edition, 1909) 76 1.15 Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead, m. 25, horn part 77 1.16 Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead, mm. 115-124 79 1.17 Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead, mm. 259-260, violin line 80 1.18 Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead, mm. 382-291 82 1.19 Böcklin, Isle of Life, 1888 86 vi 1.20 Böcklin, Odysseus and Calypso, 1883 88 1.21 Fernand Khnopff, Frontispiece for Georges Rodenbach’s Bruges-la-morte 93 1.22 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, two-note cell 96 1.23 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 22-24, two-note cell 96 1.24 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 22-24, two-note cell 96 1.25 Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian Easter Festival Overture, climax 98 1.26 Rachmaninoff, Suite No. 1 in D Minor, Fourth movement, “Christ is Risen” 100 1.27 Nikolai Medtner, Violin Sonata No. 3, Fourth movement, “Christ is Risen” in piano and violin lines 101 1.28 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, cadence at m. 36, two-note cell 102 1.29. Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, cadence at m. 36, two-note cell 102 1.30 Rachmaninoff, Christ is Risen, Op. 26, No. 6, mm. 1-7 103 1.31 Rachmaninoff, Christ is Risen, Op. 26, No. 6, opening melody in accompaniment 104 1.32 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, opening melody in right hand 104 1.33 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 1-3 of Gutheil edition 104 1.34 Schubert, Der Doppelgänger, mm. 1-8 105 1.35 Bach, Fugue from Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, WTC I, opening subject 106 1.36 Bach, middle of the final fugue from the Art of Fugue, B-A-C-H 106 1.37 Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead, mm. 259-260, violin line 107 1.38 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor Op. 32, No. 10, m. 57 107 1.39 Schubert, Der Doppelgänger, ending 108 1.40 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor, Op. 32, No. 10, ending 108 1.41 Rimsky-Korsakov, “Song of the Indian Merchant” from Sadko 108 vii 1.42 Rachmaninoff, Prelude in B Minor, Op. 32, No. 10, mm. 1-12 110 1.43 Rachmaninoff, All-Night Vigil, Op. 37, “Blagosloven yesi, Gospodi” 111 1.44 Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian Easter Festival Overture, rehearsal M 111 Chapter Two 2.1 Alexander Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, mm. 27-31 139 2.2 Richard Wagner, “Magic Fire Scene” from Die Walküre, arranged by Louis Brassin 140 2.3 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, mm. 1-11 141 2.4 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, m. 96 143 2.5 Franz Liszt, Feux follets, mm. 18-20 145 2.6 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, final bars 146 2.7 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, mm. 77-80 147 2.8 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, mm. 107-115 149 2.9 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, mm. 81 155 2.10 Rachmaninoff, Suite No. 1, Fourth movement, quotation of “Christ is Risen” 156 2.11 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, mm. 1-5 156 2.12 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, mm. 1-5 157 2.13 Scriabin, Vers la flamme, Op. 72, mm. 79-80 157 2.14 Scriabin, Piano Sonata No. 7, mm. 29-43 158 2.15 Scriabin, Piano Sonata No. 10, mm. 76-87 158 2.16 Scriabin, Piano Sonata No. 10, mm. 220-221 159 2.17 Scriabin, Prometheus, Op. 60, mm. 1-14 with motive circled 160 2.18 Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet Op. 135, Fourth movement, “Muss es sein” motive prominently displayed 161 viii 2.19 Richard Wagner, “Fate” leitmotif from Der Ring des Nibelungen 161 2.20 Beethoven, Piano Sonata, Op. 81a “Les Adieux,” Second movement, opening 162 2.21 Scriabin, Nuances, Op. 56, No. 3, opening 162 2.22 Delville, Frontispiece for Scriabin’s Prometheus, Op. 60, 1907/1910 163 2.23 Delville, Orpheus, 1893 164 2.24 Delville, Parsifal, 1885 164 2.25 Delville, Parsifal, 1890 165 2.26 Delville, Prometheus, 1907 165 Chapter Three 3.1 Nikolai Medtner, “Meditazione” from Forgotten Melodies, Op. 39, mm. 1-8 196 3.2 Medtner, Winternacht, Op. 46, No.