The Theosophical World of Russian Composer Aleksandr Scriabin

Abstract

In the years that led up to the social, cultural, and political explosion that was the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Russian composer Aleksandr Scriabin (1872-1915) pushed the rich Russian musical tradition, then resting on the four pillars of Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, and Moussorgsky, in the direction of mysticism and symbolism. His involvement with Theosophy, an eclectic, mystical-philosophical doctrine popular in Europe and America in the last quarter of the 19th century, influenced the composition of Scriabin's sonatas, symphonies, his two major orchestral poems (the famous "Le poème de l'éxtase" [1907] and "Prométhée, le poème du feu" [1910]), and short piano pieces. A knowledge of the Theosophical theory of color and sound adds to our appreciation of Scriabin's music and help us to understand more completely Scriabin's impulse to creativity and his desire to transfigure the world through art.