Composer
Alexander Scriabin
The mystic who dreamed of music, color, and light that would transform the world.
Alexander Scriabin was one of the strangest and most visionary composers in history. He began by writing exquisite piano music in the spirit of Chopin, and ended by inventing a shimmering, ecstatic harmonic language of his own, convinced that his music could bring about a spiritual transformation of humanity.
Life in brief
Scriabin was born in Moscow in 1872. His mother, a gifted pianist, died when he was a baby, and he was raised by his aunt and grandmother. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory, where his fellow students included Rachmaninoff, and became a brilliant pianist, though he injured his right hand through obsessive practice. He began his career touring as a performer of his own music.
From around 1900, Scriabin became absorbed in philosophy and mysticism, especially Theosophy, and came to believe that art could lift humanity to a higher state of consciousness. He left his first wife for a young admirer, lived for years in Switzerland, Italy, and Belgium, and gathered devoted followers. His final dream was the Mysterium, a vast week-long ritual of music, dance, poetry, color, and scent to be performed in the Himalayas, which would bring about the end of the world as we know it. He never wrote it: in 1915 he died in Moscow of blood poisoning from an infected sore on his lip, aged just forty-three.
Music and style
Scriabin's early works - preludes, études, and mazurkas - are passionate and lyrical, clearly descended from Chopin. Gradually his harmony grew more adventurous until it left traditional keys behind, built from chords stacked in fourths, such as his famous "mystic chord." The result is a glowing, unstable, endlessly yearning sound. He associated musical keys with colors, and his later scores are full of performance directions asking for ecstasy, radiance, and delight.
Key works
- The Poem of Ecstasy (1908) - a single, intoxicating orchestral movement building to an overwhelming climax for full orchestra and organ. See symphonic poem.
- Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (1910) - for orchestra, piano, and a "keyboard of light" that was to fill the hall with changing colors.
- Étude in D-sharp minor, Op. 8 No. 12 (1894) - a stormy showpiece, famously played by Vladimir Horowitz. See étude.
- Piano Sonata No. 5 (1907) - a single ecstatic movement, one of ten sonatas tracing his journey. See sonata.
- Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor (1896) - lyrical and Romantic. See concerto.
- 24 Preludes, Op. 11 - one in every key, after Chopin's example. See prelude.
Legacy
Scriabin's harmonic experiments influenced Russian composers from Stravinsky to Prokofiev, and his dreams of uniting music with light anticipated multimedia art. His piano music remains a favorite of virtuosos. See also the piano.
Where to start listening: the Étude in D-sharp minor, then The Poem of Ecstasy. For a quieter start, try the early Prelude for the left hand, Op. 9 No. 1.