! ALEXANDER SCRIABIN THE DEFINITION OF A NEW SOUND SPACE IN THE CRISIS OF TONALITY Luís Miguel Carvalhais Figueiredo Borges Coelho Tese apresentada à UniversidadeFiguiredo de Évora para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Música e Musicologia Especialidade: Musicologia ORIENTADORES: Paulo de Assis Benoît Gibson ÉVORA, JULHO DE 2016 INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO E FORMAÇÃO AVANÇADA ALEXANDER SCRIABIN THE DEFINITION OF A NEW SOUND SPACE IN THE CRISIS OF TONALITY Luís Miguel Carvalhais Figueiredo Borges Coelho Tese apresentada à Universidade de Évora para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Música e Musicologia Especialidade: Musicologia ORIENTADORES: Paulo de Assis Benoît Gibson ÉVORA, JULHO DE 2016 INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO E FORMAÇÃO AVANÇADA iii To Marta, João and Andoni, after one year of silent presence. To my parents. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my friend Paulo de Assis, for all his dedication and encouragement in supervising my research. His enthusiasm, knowledge and always-challenging opinions were a permanent stimulus to look further. I thank Benoît Gibson for having accepted to co-supervise my work, despite my previous lack of any musicological experience. I extend my gratitude to Stanley Hanks, whose willingness to supervise my English was only limited by the small number of pages I could submit to his advice before the inexorable deadline. Thanks are also due to my former piano teachers—Amélia Vilar, Isabel Rocha, Vitaly Margulis, Dimitri Bashkirov and Galina Egyazarova—for having taught me everything I know about music. To my dear friends Catarina and André I will be always grateful: without their indefatigable assistance in the final assembling of this dissertation, my erratic relation with the writing software would have surely slipped into chaos. To Xavier, I thank for having borrowed me his parents during his first school-term weekend. I am never grateful enough to my sister Mafalda and her husband Francisco for their constant support—and to my nephew, Pedro, for being a new reason of joy. To Xico and Tiago I am always grateful for an ever-lasting friendship. vii ABSTRACT This dissertation describes the new compositional system introduced by Scriabin in 1909– 1910, focusing on Feuillet d’Album op. 58, Poème op. 59, nº1, Prélude op. 59, nº2 and Promethée op. 60. Based upon exhaustive pitch and formal analysis the present study (a) claims the inexistence of non-functional pitches in all analysed works, (b) shows that transpositional procedures have structural consequences on the “basic chord”, and (c) for the first time advances an explanation on the intrinsic relation between the sonata form and the slow Luce line in Promethée op. 60. Keywords: Scriabin, Prometheus, Mystic Chord, Synaesthesia, Theosophy ix RESUMO Sob o título de “Alexander Scriabin: a definição dum novo espaço sonoro na crise da Tonalidade”, a presente tese descreve o novo sistema compositivo introduzido por Scriabin em 1909– 1910, tomando como ponto de partida o estudo de Feuillet d’Album op. 58, Poème op. 59, nº1, Prélude op. 59, nº2 e Promethée op. 60. Baseando-se numa análise exaustiva das alturas e da forma, este estudo (a) conclui pela inexistência de alturas não funcionais em qualquer das obras analisadas, (b) mostra que os procedimentos transpositivos têm consequências estruturais no “acorde básico”, e (c) pela primeira vez explica a estrutura formal de Promethée op. 60 a partir da relação intrínseca entre a sua forma sonata e a linha lenta de Luce. Palavras-chave: Scriabin, Prometeu, Acorde Místico, Sinestesia, Teosofia xi ABBREVIATIONS LIST MC Mystic Chord CC Chord Centre T Transpositional level, numbered from 0/unison to 11/major seventh xiii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................. 1! I. A New Musical System ................................................................................ 3! 1! Extinguishing dominant .................................................................................. 5! 2! Establishing a new context .............................................................................. 8! 3 Scriabin’s chord centre .................................................................................. 11! 4! Main transpositional procedures .................................................................... 14! 5! The #IV-I polarity and the T3 Transposition cycle .............................................. 15! 6! Transpositional consequences ....................................................................... 19! 7! The T3 transposition cycle as pan-chord centre ................................................ 20! 8! Scriabin and Theosophy ................................................................................ 21! II. Three piano miniatures: Feuillet d’Album op. 58, Poème op. 59, nº1 and Prélude op. 59, nº2 ........................................................................................... 23! 1! Feuillet d’Album op. 58 ................................................................................ 25! 1.1! Introductory note ....................................................................................................................... 25! 1.2! Specific sound material ............................................................................................................. 25! 1.3! Form ........................................................................................................................................ 27! 1.4! First section, bars 1–8 .............................................................................................................. 27! 1.5! Second section, bars 9–14 ....................................................................................................... 32! 1.6! Third section, bars 15–23 ......................................................................................................... 37! 1.7! Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 42! 2! Poème op. 59, nº1 ...................................................................................... 43! 2.1! The specific sound material ....................................................................................................... 43! 2.2! Form ........................................................................................................................................ 47! 2.3! First section, bars 1–12 ............................................................................................................ 47! 2.4! Second section, bars 13–24 ..................................................................................................... 57! 2.5! Third section ............................................................................................................................. 63! 2.6! Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 73! 3! Prélude op. 59, nº2 ..................................................................................... 76! 3.1! The chord centre in Prélude op. 59, nº2 .................................................................................... 76! 3.2! Specific sound material ............................................................................................................. 77! 3.3! Form ........................................................................................................................................ 79! 3.4! First section, bars 1–27 ............................................................................................................ 82! 3.5! Second section, bars 28–61 ..................................................................................................... 95! xiv 3.6! Coda, bars 55,5–61 .................................................................................................................. 96! 3.7! Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 98! III. Promethée op.60 .................................................................................. 101! 1! Light and form ........................................................................................... 103! 1.1! Tastiera per Luce / Colour Keyboard ....................................................................................... 103! 1.2! Form ...................................................................................................................................... 111! 2.! Promethée op. 60—analysis .......................................................................... 126! 2.1! Introduction, bars 1–26 .......................................................................................................... 126! 2.2! Exposition, bars 27—192 ......................................................................................................... 139! 2.3! Development: bars 193–370(2) .............................................................................................. 201! 2.4! Recapitulation ......................................................................................................................... 224! 2.5! Coda, bars 512–606 .............................................................................................................. 234! Conclusion ..............................................................................................