Mysterium (Scriabin)
Encyclopedia
Mysterium is an unfinished musical work by composer Alexander Scriabin
. He started working on the composition in 1903, but it was incomplete at the time of his death in 1915.
Scriabin planned that the work would be synesthetic
,
exploiting the senses of smell
and touch as well as hearing.
He wrote that
Scriabin intended that the performance of this work, to be given in
the foothills of the Himalayas
in India
, would last seven days
and would be followed by the end of the world
, with the human race replaced by "nobler beings".
At the time of his death, Scriabin left 72 pages of sketches for a prelude
to the Mysterium entitled Prefatory Action. These sketches have been completed by Alexander Nemtin to form a three-hour-long work, a task that took him 28 years, and recorded.
One of the key components of later Scriabin compositions is related to his preliminary thinking for the "Mysterium". The so-called "Mystic chord", C F# Bb E A D, starts gradually to serve as a source of harmonic and melodic material in some of Scriabin's works from the "Poem of Ecstasy" onwards. The notes of the chord are rarely used in the pure form just cited, all spaced in fourths, and are usually rearranged, doubled, and inverted in various ways when in actual use in a composition, so that the original chord spaced in fourths is scarcely recognizable, even when its notes are the basis of a passage. This use of the chord reached its climax in Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, while The Poem of Ecstasy which preceded it, although starting to suggest the chord, does not in fact use the complete chord with any frequency. Some hints of the chord start to appear even considerably earlier, however - for instance, in the Sonata no. 4 in F# major, op. 30
.
This chord was to provide the tonal framework for "Mysterium" rather than conventional tonal triads. The "Mysterium Chord" is almost a whole-tone scale but with one constituent pitch-class raised a semitone, turning the Fortean aggregate (02468T) into (013579). This is the Prometheus scale, and its notes are the exact constituents of the Mystic chord. (However, for the Mysterium, Scriabin had expanded this chord up to stacked chords containing all twelve tones of the tempered scale.) Later on in the 20th century the (original) scale/harmony influenced composers such as Francis Poulenc
, Olivier Messiaen
and Toru Takemitsu
.
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
. He started working on the composition in 1903, but it was incomplete at the time of his death in 1915.
Scriabin planned that the work would be synesthetic
Synesthesia
Synesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...
,
exploiting the senses of smell
Olfaction
Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...
and touch as well as hearing.
He wrote that
- "There will not be a single spectator. All will be participants. The work requires special people, special artists and a completely new culture. The cast of performers includes an orchestra, a large mixed choir, an instrument with visual effects, dancers, a procession, incense, and rhythmic textural articulation. The cathedral in which it will take place will not be of one single type of stone but will continually change with the atmosphere and motion of the Mysterium. This will be done with the aid of mists and lights, which will modify the architectural contours."
Scriabin intended that the performance of this work, to be given in
the foothills of the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, would last seven days
and would be followed by the end of the world
Eschatology
Eschatology is a part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or the World to Come...
, with the human race replaced by "nobler beings".
At the time of his death, Scriabin left 72 pages of sketches for a prelude
Prelude (music)
A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
to the Mysterium entitled Prefatory Action. These sketches have been completed by Alexander Nemtin to form a three-hour-long work, a task that took him 28 years, and recorded.
One of the key components of later Scriabin compositions is related to his preliminary thinking for the "Mysterium". The so-called "Mystic chord", C F# Bb E A D, starts gradually to serve as a source of harmonic and melodic material in some of Scriabin's works from the "Poem of Ecstasy" onwards. The notes of the chord are rarely used in the pure form just cited, all spaced in fourths, and are usually rearranged, doubled, and inverted in various ways when in actual use in a composition, so that the original chord spaced in fourths is scarcely recognizable, even when its notes are the basis of a passage. This use of the chord reached its climax in Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, while The Poem of Ecstasy which preceded it, although starting to suggest the chord, does not in fact use the complete chord with any frequency. Some hints of the chord start to appear even considerably earlier, however - for instance, in the Sonata no. 4 in F# major, op. 30
Sonata No. 4 (Scriabin)
The Piano Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major, Op. 30, was written by Alexander Scriabin in 1903. It consists of two movements, Andante and Prestissimo volando, and is the shortest of Scriabin's sonatas ....
.
This chord was to provide the tonal framework for "Mysterium" rather than conventional tonal triads. The "Mysterium Chord" is almost a whole-tone scale but with one constituent pitch-class raised a semitone, turning the Fortean aggregate (02468T) into (013579). This is the Prometheus scale, and its notes are the exact constituents of the Mystic chord. (However, for the Mysterium, Scriabin had expanded this chord up to stacked chords containing all twelve tones of the tempered scale.) Later on in the 20th century the (original) scale/harmony influenced composers such as Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
, Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
and Toru Takemitsu
Toru Takemitsu
was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...
.