Description
The second of the Two Pieces, Op. 59, written in 1910. Fifteen years on from Op. 16, Scriabin's music had left the system of major and minor behind and was being built on chords of his own construction. The score is marked "Sauvage, belliqueux" — wild, warlike.
In 6/8. It carries no key signature, and no key is recorded for it here. In place of anything resembling a melody, sharp dotted rhythms and leaping figures are struck repeatedly. Over nine hundred notes are packed into less than ninety seconds, a density closer to a small explosion than to a prelude.
An advanced piece. Simply finding the notes is hard, and because the harmony does not move functionally the ear cannot predict what comes next. Learn the hand shapes and the paths of the leaps first, committing them to the body rather than relying on the look of the page. The savagery the marking asks for is not the same as playing roughly: the more exact the rhythm, the more violent it sounds.
Preludes by Scriabin, tracing a path from early Chopin influence toward his own distinctive mystical style.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)
Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist from Moscow known for developing a highly personal musical world tied to mystical philosophy. His early works show the lyrical influence of Chopin, but he gradually moved away from traditional tonality toward his own distinctive harmonic system. This site includes 8 of his works, including an early etude and preludes from Op. 11 and Op. 16.
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