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The Evolution of 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

began composing in a Romantic style, heavily influenced by the music of Frederic

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

early Mazurkas Op. 3 written in 1893.

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V7 i
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

multiple additional tensions, the progression continues to be a standard V-I progression.

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.

The evolution from a dominant chord to the mystic chord is as follows:

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Figure 2: Mystic chord evolution

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

organization of a dominant chord by fourth intervals creates a particular sound, but if

used in the context of a tonal progression as a V chord it continues to be the same as it

was used in Scriabin’s early music. What differs is that Scriabin began using this chord

without it having a dominant function, referring to it as “not a dominant chord, but a

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

as an added color to the chord.

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.

Example 1: Chord analysis of Prometheus

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

movement by thirds as shown below.

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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

used by composers prior to Scriabin.

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

mystic chord, and countless other late works.

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

evolution of Scriabin’s musical language to have an understanding of how different

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

development of western music.

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