The Piano Sonata No. 6, Op. 62, by Alexander Scriabin was composed in 1911. Although it was named the sixth sonata, the piece was preceded by the Sonata No. 7. [1] As it is one of the late piano sonatas of Scriabin's career, the music consists of a single movement and is almost atonal, although it is sometimes listed as being in the key of G. [2] Scriabin reportedly never played the sonata in public, because he feared its darkness.
It received its premiere on 19 March 1912 in Moscow by Elena Bekman-Shcherbina. [2]
The piece consists of a single movement, typically lasting around 11–12 minutes, and is marked as follows:
The mood of the piece is marked "mystérieux" by the composer, but most striking are the sudden moments of horror that interrupt its dreamlike atmosphere, explicitly marked "l'épouvante surgit" (surge of terror) by Scriabin. The final passages are colourful and languid, like an elaborate Debussy prelude, but darker forces are released at the end. [3] Richard Strauss' Elektra chord is featured in the sonata, lending it a nightmarish quality that Scriabin's mystic chord could not provide alone. [4]
According to Scriabin's biographer, Faubion Bowers, “The Sixth Sonata is a netherstar. Its dark and evil aspect embraces horror, terror, and the omnipresent Unknown. ‘Only my music expresses the inexpressible,’ Scriabin boasted, and called the Sixth’s sweet and harsh harmonies, “nightmarish… fuliginous… murky… dark and hidden… unclean… mischievous.’ When he played excerpts for friends, he would stare off in the distance away from the piano, as if watching effluvium rise from the floor and walls around him. He seemed frightened and sometimes shuddered.” [5]
It is one of a few pieces Scriabin never played in public, because he felt it was "nightmarish, murky, unclean and mischievous". [3] He often started shuddering after playing a few measures for other people. [6]
It is the first piece that the composer explored the use of the octatonic scale, a scale which has the structure of alternating half and whole steps. The music is demanding of the performer and sometimes the musical material is notated with three staves. [2]
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Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orchestration is the assignment of different instruments to play the different parts of a musical work. For example, a work for solo piano could be adapted and orchestrated so that an orchestra could perform the piece, or a concert band piece could be orchestrated for a symphony orchestra.
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed in a relatively tonal, late Romantic idiom. Later, and independently of his influential contemporary, Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed a much more dissonant musical language that had transcended usual tonality but was not atonal, which accorded with his personal brand of metaphysics. Scriabin found significant appeal in the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk as well as synesthesia, and associated colours with the various harmonic tones of his scale, while his colour-coded circle of fifths was also inspired by theosophy. He is often considered the main Russian Symbolist composer and a major representative of the Russian Silver Age.
In music, the mystic chord or Prometheus chord is a six-note synthetic chord and its associated scale, or pitch collection; which loosely serves as the harmonic and melodic basis for some of the later pieces by Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. Scriabin, however, did not use the chord directly but rather derived material from its transpositions.
Children's Corner, L. 113, is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was first performed by Harold Bauer in Paris on 18 December that year. In 1911, an orchestration by André Caplet was premiered and subsequently published.
The Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68, commonly known as the Black Mass Sonata, is one of the late piano sonatas composed by Alexander Scriabin. The work was written around 1912–1913. Although its nickname was not invented by Scriabin, he approved of it.
The Piano Sonata No. 7, Op. 64, subtitled Messe Blanche, was written by Alexander Scriabin in 1911. As one of the late piano sonatas of Scriabin's career, the music is highly chromatic and almost atonal. George Perle says that, "the primary set upon which the Seventh Sonata is based," is, in linear order as spelled by Scriabin, E, F♯, G, A, B♭, C, D♭, and that the mystic chord may be derived from the quartal spelling of this set.
The Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 66, by Alexander Scriabin, was composed between 1912 and 1913. As one of Scriabin's late piano sonatas, the eighth sonata is highly atonal, though arguably less dissonant than some of his other late works. Like Scriabin's other late piano sonatas, the eighth sonata reflects the composer's mystical interests. Scriabin saw some parts of this sonata, which, like the sixth sonata, he never performed in public, as "the most tragic episode of my creative work".
The Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53, is a work written by Alexander Scriabin in 1907. This was his first sonata to be written in one movement, a format he retained from then on. A typical performance lasts from 11 to 12 minutes. The work is considered to be one of Scriabin's most difficult compositions, both technically and musically.
Vers la flamme, Op. 72, is one of Alexander Scriabin's last pieces for piano, written in 1914.
The Piano Sonata No. 10, Op. 70, was written by Alexander Scriabin in 1913. It was his final work in this form. The piece is highly chromatic and tonally ambiguous like Scriabin's other late works, although arguably less dissonant than most of his late works. It is characterized by frequent trills and tremolos. It is sometimes called his "Insect Sonata", referring to his words:
The Piano Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp minor, Op. 23, by Alexander Scriabin was composed between 1897 and 1898. The sonata consists of four movements, typically spanning 18 minutes in performance.
The Cello Sonata, L. 135, is a sonata for cello and piano by Claude Debussy. It was part of his project Six sonatas for various instruments to compose six sonatas for different instruments. It consists of three movements: Prologue, Sérénade and Finale. It was composed and published in 1915. After performances in London and Geneva in 1916, the sonata's official premiere in Paris was played in 1917 by Joseph Salmon and Debussy. It was the first chamber music work in his late style, and became one of the key works in the repertoire from the 20th century.
The Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 6, by Alexander Scriabin, was the third of twelve piano sonatas that he composed. It was completed in 1892. The music is emotionally charged as much of the music was written after Scriabin had damaged his right hand through excessive piano playing.
Alexander Scriabin's Fantasie in B minor, Op. 28, was written in 1900. This is a single sonata form movement which bridges the gap between Scriabin's third and his fourth sonata. Scriabin wrote this piece during an otherwise compositionally unproductive period during his tenure at the Moscow Conservatory. The first edition was published by Belaieff.
The Elektra chord is a "complexly dissonant signature-chord" and motivic elaboration used by composer Richard Strauss to represent the title character of his opera Elektra that is a "bitonal synthesis of E major and C-sharp major" and may be regarded as a polychord related to conventional chords with added thirds, in this case an eleventh chord. It is enharmonically equivalent to a 7#9 chord : D♭-F-A♭-C♭-E and a 6b9 chord : E-G#-B-C#-F.
The Poem of Ecstasy, Op. 54, is a symphonic poem by Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin written between 1905 and 1908, when Scriabin was actively involved with the Theosophical Society. The 20-minute work premiered on 10 December 1908 in New York.
Violin Sonata, a composition for violin and piano, is a work of the Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854-1928). It was written in the summer of 1914, but it was not Janáček’s first attempt to create such a composition. He resolved to compose a violin sonata already as a student at the conservatoire in Leipzig in 1880, and later during his studies in Vienna. His early sonatas are today lost.
Pour le piano, L. 95, is a suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It consists of three individually composed movements, Prélude, Sarabande and Toccata. The suite was completed and published in 1901. It was premiered on 11 January 1902 at the Salle Érard, played by Ricardo Viñes. Maurice Ravel orchestrated the middle movement.
Alexander Scriabin's 24 Preludes, Op. 11 is a set of preludes composed in the course of eight years between 1888–96, being also one of Scriabin's first published works with M.P. Belaieff in 1897, in Leipzig, Germany, together with his 12 Études, Op. 8 (1894–95).
Claude Debussy's Six sonatas for various instruments, composed by Claude Debussy, French musician was a projected cycle of sonatas that was interrupted by the composer's death in 1918, after he had composed only half of the projected sonatas. He left behind his sonatas for cello and piano (1915), flute, viola and harp (1915), and violin and piano (1916–1917).
