ALEXANDER NIKOLAYEVICH SCRIABIN (DEC. 25, 1871 [JAN. 6,
1872, NEW STYLE], MOSCOW, RUSSIA—APRIL 14 [APRIL 27], 1915, MOSCOW)
Scriabin was trained as a soldier at the Moscow Cadet School from 1882
to 1889 but studied music at the same time and took piano lessons. In 1888 he
entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied the piano with V.I. Safonov
and composition with Sergey Taneyev and Anton Arensky. By 1892, when he
graduated from the conservatory, he had composed the piano pieces that
constitute his opuses 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. In 1897 he married the pianist Vera
Isakovich and from 1898 until 1903 taught at the Moscow Conservatory. He then
devoted himself entirely to composition and in 1904 settled in Switzerland.
After 1900 he was much preoccupied with mystical philosophy, and his Symphony
No. 1, composed in that year, has a choral finale, to his own words, glorifying
art as a form of religion. In Switzerland he completed his Symphony No. 3,
first performed under Arthur Nikisch in Paris in 1905. The literary “program”
of this work, devised by Tatiana Schloezer, with whom he had formed a
relationship after abandoning his wife, was said to represent “the evolution of
the human spirit from pantheism to unity with the universe.” Theosophical ideas
similarly provided the basis of the orchestral Poem of Ecstasy (1908) and
Prometheus (1911), which called for the projection of colours onto a screen
during the performance. From 1906 to 1907 Scriabin toured the United States,
where he gave concerts with Safonov and the conductor Modest Altschuler, and in
1908 he frequented theosophical circles in Brussels. In 1909 he was encouraged
by the conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who both performed and published his
works, to return to Russia. By then he was no longer thinking in terms of music
alone; he was looking forward to an all-embracing “Mystery.” This work was
planned to open with a “liturgical act” in which music, poetry, dancing,
colours, and scents were to unite to induce in the worshipers a “supreme, final
ecstasy.” He wrote the poem of the “Preliminary Action” of the “Mystery” but
left only sketches for the music. Scriabin’s reputation stems from his
grandiose symphonies and his sensitive, exquisitely polished piano music. His
piano works include 10 sonatas (1892–1913), an early concerto, and many
preludes and other short pieces. Although Scriabin was an idolater of Frédéric
Chopin in his youth, he early developed a personal style. As his thought became
more and more mystical, egocentric, and ingrown, his harmonic style became ever
less generally intelligible. Meaningful analysis of his work only began
appearing in the 1960s, and yet his music had always attracted a devoted
following among modernists.
TRACKLIST
2067 WELTE-MIGNON SCRIABIN – Preludes, Op. 11, No. 1, C; No. 2, a
2068 WELTE-MIGNON SCRIABIN – Poème, Op. 32, No. 1, F#
2069 WELTE-MIGNON SCRIABIN – Preludes, Op. 11, No. 13, Gb; No. 14, eb
2071 WELTE-MIGNON SCRIABIN – Désir (Desire) Op. 57, No. 1
2072 WELTE-MIGNON SCRIABIN – Prelude, Op. 22, No. 1; Mazurka, Op. 40, No. 2, f#
2073 WELTE-MIGNON SCRIABIN – Etude, Op. 8, No. 12, d# “Pathétique”
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