Scriabin's Harmonic Language
Scriabin's Harmonic Language
Scriabin's Harmonic Language
Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer from the late 19th/ early 20th century,
who is known, most notably for the development of his own musical language. Scriabin
Chopin, but in his later compositions the harmonic language completely changed into a
different form that did not follow traditional tonality that was set to that point. And so
Scriabin is a great example to view the development of Western Classical Music from a
major-minor tonality into new systems through the music of a single composer. With
analysis and comparison of his early and late works, a conclusion will be made about
how Scriabin’s late harmonic language evolved from his early work, and whether or not
after all the transformations his new language can be considered tonal.
Scriabin’s early works sound Romantic in style, but within them, his own voice
can be found, as well as features that led to the eventual evolution of his language. Part of
Scriabin’s unique voice during his early music is the usage of added tensions on
dominant chords. This was nothing innovative, since composers of the Romantic period
had explored some of the extensions available on dominant chords, and it was something
that was done by his Russian contemporaries such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, but it is
important to take note of these extensions as they become important to the development
of Scriabin’s later language. We will begin by looking at dominant chords found in his
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1: Mazurka Op. 3 No. 4, mm. 99-100
Figure
As shown in the figure above, from Scriabin’s Mazurka Op. 3, No. 4, we can see
an example of the additional tensions that were used in his dominant chords of his early
works. In this particular example the E dominant chord contains the additional pitches of
(F-A#-C). For the purpose of this paper the tensions will be defined by the relationship of
pitches in relation to the root of the chord, so in this particular case the tensions added are
a flat-9, sharp-11, flat-13. It is important to note that even though the chord contains
As Scriabin developed his language there continued to be uses of dominant chords with
various forms of added tensions, eventually leading to instances in which certain tensions
do not resolve in the standard form, and so they are used as color, similarly to how
dominant chords are used in Blues music. These additional tensions are eventually
shaped into becoming the chord by which Scriabin is most known for, the mystic chord.
As shown in the diagram above we can see that this chord labeled as the mystic
chord is derived from using the same pitch content as a dominant chord with added
tensions, but instead of being organized by thirds the chord is organized in a quartal
fashion (by fourths; including diminished, perfect, and augmented fourths). This new
was used in Scriabin’s early music. What differs is that Scriabin began using this chord
basic chord, a consonance.” Therefore, the chord does not resolve in a V-I fashion, but
rather goes through different types of progressions with the tensions always being present
Scriabin departs from major-minor tonality with one of his most famous works,
Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, Op. 60 written in 1910. In this piece for full orchestra
Scriabin made use of the mystic chord extensively for the first time and replaced the
system of circle of fifths with a different system. The work consists of progressions from
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mystic chord to the next, each with a different root. Through analysis of the work a chart
can be devised showing the root of the chord being used from measure to measure.
As shown in the chart above, it can be observed that the vast majority of
movements from root to root are by thirds, or by tritones. And while these movements
work well, the use of movement by circles based on minor thirds was nothing
revolutionary. There are numerous examples of Romantic composers using thirds as their
form of movement in progression. One of these composers was Richard Wagner, who
was an influence for Scriabin. Wagner was a Romantic composer who pushed the
boundary of major-minor tonality as early as 1859 with his work Tristan und Isolde. In
this composition, Wagner used a similar type of chord to the mystic chord formed by two
4ths, known as the Tristan chord, and in the opening of the work Wagner makes use of
Ab C
Figure 3: Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde Solo Piano Version
As shown in figure 3 we can see that Wagner used a minor third movement from
statement to statement of the motive, beginning with F, followed by Ab and then C. Other
examples of works by Romantic composers that include this type of movement include
Schubert’s Wanderer Phantasie written in 1822, Weber’s “Hin nimm die Seele mein”,
1823, Liszt’s Concert Etude No. 2, 1848. This shows that this type of movement was
Another important factor to take into account is that even with the use of the
mystic chord, and the new form of moving by thirds, Scriabin still implied the idea of
there being a tonal center. This is shown by beginning and ending a piece with a mystic
chord based on the same root. This happens in works such as Prometheus, beginning and
ending with an A mystic chord, Vers la Flamme Op. 72 beginning and ending with an E
As shown, the ideas that made up the late harmonic language of Scriabin were not
new, but the synthesis of both dominant chords with added extensions grouped in fourths
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alongside the movement by circles of thirds rather than fifths created a new language
unique to him. So it can be concluded that there is a relationship in terms of the harmonic
content of his new language with the concepts used before by Romantic composers.
Scriabin definitely pushed the boundary of tonality by the synthesis of these different
elements, but there continued to be a tonal center, and wasn’t an entirely new system like
some that were developed later in the 20th century. Still it is important to know about the
existing musical ideas can be synthesized to evolve, and take a different form, which is
something that happened and continues to happen throughout the history and
Bibliography
McVay, Michael Jones. "Scriabin: A New Theory of Harmony and Structure." Order No.
1346803, University of North Texas, 1991. In PROQUESTMS ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses Global,
http://access.library.miami.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2199
56698?accountid=14585.