In a general study of aspects of Modernism it is not practicable to attempt a comprehensive discussion of the late works of Skriabin. The purpose of this chapter is to draw attention to features of his work which had an influence on composers dealt with later and to consider aspects of style which are sometimes neglected in current literature. The model of Skriabin’s harmonic technique proposed by the Russian musicologist Varvara Dernova has helped to promote understanding of Skriabin’s mature works.¹ However, it does little toward illuminating his late compositions, in which Skriabin turned away from dominant-type resonances and began to explore the possibilities of symmetry as a basis of harmony and structure. In the West attempts to analyze these late works in terms of set theory have led to their being treated as proto-serial and atonal. As will be seen in chapter 12, such approaches have sometimes failed to note important elements in his structures. They have also resulted in Skriabin’s being regarded as a Westerner among Russians, with a consequent disregard of his Russian roots.

In the present chapter consideration will first be given to the complex harmonies of Skriabin’s post-1910 period and the way these developed from his earlier style. Then his harmonic progressions will be dealt with, including long-term relationships to which insufficient attention was given in Dernova’s model. After that comes a discussion of Skriabin’s attempt, around 1910, to establish a pitch hierarchy independent of traditional tonality, and, finally, a look at the modal coloring in his music, which suggests a greater awareness of Russian tradition than is generally recognized. The elements of symmetry and structure in Skriabin’s late works will be dealt with in chapters 8, 9, and 11.²

Harmony

Many features of Skriabin’s Albumleaf Op. 58, of 1910, are anticipated in his previous works: nonfunctional dominant-structured chords, with tritone bass and root progressions in Op. 52 No. 2 (Example 2-1); tonic bass under the dominant chord, substituting for the tonic triad of the traditional tonal cadence, in Op. 57 No. 1 (Example 2-2); and the layout of the left-hand chords, as in bars 55-57 of Example 2-1, which became a common feature of his post-1910 works. The tritone and adjacent semitone, which are the basis of the structure of Op. 58 (C, F, B in the bass of bars 1, 11, and 18-22 respectively, Examples 2-5 and 8-33a), appears in Op. 51 No. 1, where the opening bass notes, F-flat and B-flat, reach their goal of E-flat for the first time in bar 44 (Example 2-3).³ In terms of root relationships this progression occurs in the Neapolitan cadences of each of the four phrases of Op. 33 No. 3, as well as in the overall plan of the piece (Example 2-4). What distinguishes Albumleaf Op. 58 is the combination of all these elements, the reduced gravitational attraction of the pitch centers, the search for a new tonal plan as an alternative to the 5th and 3rd relationships of nineteenth-century practice, and the greater complexity of the harmonies, with consequent blurring of the demarcation between harmonic and nonharmonic notes.

In the three pieces of 1910 (Op. 58 and Op. 59 Nos. 1 and 2), Skriabin gradually increased the range of intervals above the root which could be allowed in his chords. In the context of dominant and whole-tone sound, which pervades the first two of these pieces, the major 9th is easily absorbed without the need for resolution. In bars 3 and 9 of Op. 58 the 9th is carefully prepared (Example 25), but in Op. 59 No. 1 it is sounded, without preparation, in the first bar (Example 2-6). Here the composer’s habit of writing a descending arpeggio in the left hand assists in the absorption of the 9th, since the true root is not revealed until the end.

The use of the minor 9th means abandoning the mellifluous whole-tone effect, but the minor 9th too is absorbed into the more astringent context of Op. 59 No. 2, where it appears in the final chord (Example 2-11). Its stability as a harmony note in an octatonic context is demonstrated in later works, including Op. 74 No. 5 (Example 2-7) where, in bar 6, the octave from the root (D-sharp) is treated as an auxiliary to the minor 9th rather than as its resolution. Major and minor 9ths are already freely used in bars 1 and 24 of Op. 61 (Example 2-8).

Skriabin did not employ the added 6th in the tonic chord after the manner of Debussy, but in his early works, he used it within a dominant in a way that suggests its function as an appoggiatura or 13th (Example 2-3). An ambiguous case of the 6th occurs in the last five bars of Op. 58, where, because of the tonic in the bass, the G-sharps may be heard as 6ths in relation to B (Example 2-9) or as major 9ths in the chord of F-sharp (as they were in the similar passage at bar 3, Example 2-5).

This composition marks the transition to Skriabin’s use of the added 6th in his late works: the characteristic ambiguity of the major 3rd of the scale as either the 13th of the dominant chord or the 3rd of the tonic triad is emphasized in bar 21, where B has been heard in the bass (Example 2-9). As Skriabin’s dominant harmonies became increasingly nonfunctional it is the added 6th which, more than anything else, suggests the tonic: it often functions as a harmony note, not within the dominant but as the 3rd of the implied tonic intruding into the dominant chord. In Op. 59 No. 1 (Example 2-10) the G-sharp over root B suggests, with increasing emphasis, an unsounded tonic E. By comparing bars 1 and 24 one can hear that the effect is enhanced progressively as the G-sharp is isolated in time and texture from the body of the chord and supported by its lower auxiliary. The harmonic stability and independence of the added 6th is emphasized by the fact that the F-double sharp has a tendency to return to G-sharp rather than move on to the 5th from the root. In Op. 59 No. 2 the tonal leading of the added 6th, in bar 56, is opposed by the F-sharp in the bass (Example 2-11). In Op. 74 No. 1 structural dependence on tonality has been largely eliminated, but the bell-like effect of the added 6ths in bar 3 (and bars 11-13) continues to supply a characteristic Skriabin resonance (Example 2-12).

In Op. 58 both augmented and diminished 5ths from the root are used, as in bars 1 and 9 (Example 2-5). In Dernova’s model of Skriabin’s harmony, such intervals are regarded as altered 5ths, even when notated as augmented 4ths or minor 6ths. In Skriabin’s usage they appear to have originated in such passages as bar 8 of Op. 51 No. 1 and the end of Op. 45 No. 2 (Examples 2-13 and 2-14). In time both became fully absorbed into the harmony without need for resolution. Sometimes the augmented and diminished 5ths occur together, giving rise to a French 6th chord with a particularly whole-tone sound. In Example 2-15 they occur in company with the perfect 5th: these three, together with the added 6th, often form part of an internal chromatic line, particularly typical of the late works (Example 2-16).

In the context of Skriabin’s harmonic language of 1910 the minor 3rd from the root is heard as a foreign or discordant element because it disrupts the dominant-type resonance of the prevailing harmony. In Op. 58 the minor 3rd is introduced on the third eighth note of bar 2 (Example 2-5), notated as an augmented 2nd because the harmony is about to change and it will be reinterpreted as an added 6th over F-sharp. The sound of the minor 3rd is well prepared by the D-sharp in bar 1, which turns out to be an appoggiatura, eventually resolving to E. In Op. 59 No. 1 (Example 2-17) the minor 3rd is first introduced with some caution in bar 12, where it forms part of an internal pedal starting as a major 9th over F-sharp and ending as an added 6th over B. In bar 23 it is given greater prominence by the preceding leap, but it may still be interpreted as a passing note (Example 2-10). At bars 26 and 34 it receives metrical and durational emphasis but again resolves, this time to the major 9th (Example 2-18). Finally it emerges unequivocally as a harmony note in bars 36-38 (Example 2-10). Of the equally balanced polarities of B and F at bars 1 and 2 (Example 2-10), the dominant effect of the former is progressively strengthened by its added 6th, while the latter, notated as E-sharp, is weakened by the increasing prominence given to its minor 3rd. Thus a distinct bias toward the tonality of E is established by the end of the piece. The minor 3rd from the root took on a new significance in Skriabin’s last works. Often it falls to the minor 9th (Example 2-19) and, as here, is sometimes associated with experiments in the octatonic scale and with other modes of limited transposition dealt with in chapter 9.⁴

The 4th or 11th from the root did not fit comfortably into Skriabin’s harmonic system so long as his chords retained some semblance of dominant-type resonance. Even in his last works, the 4th from the root usually moves by step, as does the E-sharp in Example 2-16.⁵ From Op. 59 No. 2 on, however, Skriabin began to employ the 4th below the root, either in place of or in alternation with the tritone. Used by itself the 4th in this position tends to throw emphasis on its upper note as the root. This happens in Sonata No. 10, where the entire first subject, from bar 9, has a slight sound of dominant on A-flat. In contrast with the 4th, the tritone tends to allow the lower note to function as the root, so long as the harmony has a residual dominant or augmented 6th-type sound (Example 2-15). Where that resonance is lacking and the tritone is prolonged, as in Op. 74 No. 3 (Example 220), the two notes of the tritone serve as a single entity, a joint platform for free and independent movement above. Used in alternation, as in bars 88-94 of Sonata No. 10, the tritone weakens the pitch center suggested by the 4ths. The interplay between the two intervals in the bass plays an important part in this Sonata in defining the areas of stability and instability dealt with in chapter 12. The inversion of the 4th at bars 32-35, at the end of the first subject, creates a resolution which replaces the traditional cadence.

A significant feature of Op. 58 is the interest that the composer takes in the reinterpretation of pitches as the harmony changes. When, as here, the relationship of a note to the tonic is weakened, its association with the current root (usually the bass) becomes correspondingly more important. Because it is impossible to hear these complex chords as inversions of one another, when one is transposed a tritone or a minor 3rd, any pitch that is common to the two chords will assume a new relationship to the root. The D-sharp and G-sharp, marked to be played with emphasis in bar 1 of Op. 58, reappear, again with emphasis, in bars 3 and 4, where their function in relation to the root is altered (Example 2-5). A third significance attaches to the G-sharp at the end of the piece, when the functional value of the F-sharp is clarified by placing a B in the bass (Example 2-9). The reinterpretation of function by change of root can replace traditional resolution; this happens in Op. 58. Whereas the D-sharps in bar 1 eventually resolve to E, the one in bar 2 is left unresolved while the harmony gradually changes and the D-sharp returns as an added 6th in bar 3 (Example 2-5). In Op. 59 No. 1 (Example 2-10) the G-sharp has opposite functions in relation to the B and E-sharp roots, tonally strong in one and tonally weak in the other. It is not always necessary for the bass to move to effect such a change: in Example 2-29, bar 1, the root passes from C to F-sharp while the bass remains the same.

It is clear from Op. 58 and Op. 59 No. 1 that the status of a note within the harmony is now governed not so much by its dissonance, tonal function, or placement in traditional voice leading, but by its capacity to be absorbed within a dominant-structured chord without destroying the aural effect of that harmony. The 9ths, added 6ths, and altered 5ths are accepted because the characteristic sound of the chord can survive such additions. The minor 3rd, perfect 4th, and major 7th are disruptive.

The same desire to retain the aural effect of the chord is behind the layout of the left hand in Skriabin’s music, with the minor 7th and tritone at the bottom of the harmony and well spaced for clarity. At first the minor 7th was usually below the tritone, to preserve the characteristic sound of the dominant-structured 7th (Examples 2-5 and 2-10). Later the tritone was also used as the bottom interval (Example 2-15). The latter represents a significant move away from the unequivocal dominant-type resonance and in turn led to formations where the 7th above the tritone is either omitted or transferred to the upper texture, and the dominant associations are lost (Example 2-7).

The ambiguity between harmonic and passing tones in the late works of Skriabin is illustrated in Example 2-21. The A in bar 14 is treated as a harmony note in the bass, but in the treble it is an auxiliary to B-flat. The harmony here may be interpreted as derived from the composer’s earlier use of altered dominants, but with the minor 3rd now fully incorporated into the chord, instead of resolving as formerly. The chord at the beginning of Skriabin’s Prelude Op. 74 No. 1 (Example 2-16) becomes an augmented 6th (with passing note G) on the third eighth note, but at first the only note which sounds like a nonharmony note is the E-sharp, which has a strong tendency to rise. The inclusion of seven distinct pitches in a complex, as in Example 2-21, is common in Skriabin. Example 2-19 is exceptional in containing eight notes that may be construed as harmonic.

Harmonic Progression

In the nineteenth century there were occasional instances in Russian music of a series of nonfunctional dominant-structured 7ths, with one or more notes in common. An example with a pictorial intent is the “Eclipse” scene from Boris Godunov, where 7th chords of B-flat, E, D, and G (all having D in common) are heard over a D pedal (Example 2-22). Immediately after the passage quoted the chords are reshuffled—D, G, B-flat, E; G, D, E, B-flat; E, G, B-flat, D. Occasionally such chords have a tritone relationship (Example 2-23). Chords moving a tritone and linked by notes in common are also heard in Western music (Example 2-24). Another feature of the Russian Nationalist school is the periodic use of chords related by whole-tone movement in the bass (Example 2-25). Skriabin’s Albumleaf Op. 58 combines all these characteristics. The harmonic roots make up the whole-tone scale C, D, E, F-sharp, A-flat; the tritone related chords C/F-sharp and D/A-flat have notes in common, and so do the intermediate major 3rd steps F-sharp/D and A-flat/E/C (Examples 2-5 and 8-33a). The minor 3rd and major 3rd bass sequences, which are a frequent feature of Skriabin’s music in such pieces as Op. 59 No. 2 and Op. 73 Nos. 1 and 2, are also anticipated in the root relationships sometimes found in the works of Rimsky-Korsakov. Example 2-26, taken from The Snow Maiden, is an instance.

In Op. 59 No. 2 Skriabin introduced a type of harmonic progression in which one chord is related to another over a long time span in the form of a resolution. This work is also his first to be entirely free of structural dependence on traditional tonality. The first two-and-a-half bars can be heard as firmly controlled within a framework of E-flat, which occurs throughout in either the treble or the bass, with the opening bass tritone resolving to the 5th, E-flat/B-flat, in bars 1 and 2 (Example 2-27a).⁶ This passage is transposed, sometimes abbreviated, through a minor 3rd sequence at bars 5, 7, 26, and 33, returning to E-flat in a slightly modified form commencing at bar 35. The long-range resolution of the opening enigmatic chord, which is the basis of this passage, is most easily heard by comparing its transposition at bar 5 with the concluding dominant-structured minor 9th on C, which commences on the second beat at bar 54 (Example 2-27a). This resolution is hinted at by the E-natural in bar 5, which there appears to be an auxiliary. The search for a resolution, which can be traced throughout the piece, replaces the tonal drive of traditional music.

Comparing bars 5 and 54 with the opening chord of the piece, one can hear, in retrospect, that the minor 3rd (C) at the beginning—which disrupts the dominanttype sound characteristic of Skriabin’s harmony at this time—may be interpreted as a B-sharp, which could resolve by moving to C-sharp. It is instructive to compare this with the augmented 9th, rising to the major 10th, which has already been noted in connection with the opening of Op. 58. The augmented 2nd (minor 3rd) and the unresolved major 7th (D in bar 2) are also the basis of the contrasting section commencing at bar 11 (Example 2-27b). The play on the bass tritone— the lower note appears at first to be the harmonic center (E-flat in the opening passage) but the higher note turns out to be the root in the resolution (C in bar 54)—is typical of the composer’s love of enigma and his fascination with this interval throughout his late works.

The work in which Skriabin developed this technique of progressive resolution to the greatest extent was Vers la flamme Op. 72, one of his most successful and closely integrated compositions. Example 2-28 shows the chords on which the first section is based as far as bar 40. Chord types 1 and 3 resolve in turn to the B chord, but the addition of 7ths and 9ths creates a steady buildup of tension throughout. Chords 2 and 3 introduce the minor 3rd from the root, which becomes important in the following section.

The middle part starts at bar 41 and lasts until the return of the opening in bar 107. The transpositions at bars 47 and 55 begin with minor triads containing added 6ths and proceed to more complex forms. From bar 41 through bar 74, the constant alternation between chords of a dominant structure and others on the same roots having a minor 3rd and/or major 7th lends a distinctive character to the whole passage. The minor 3rd of the chord ceases to be heard altogether after bar 82, and from here on there is a succession of simple dominant 9ths, in alternation with other dominant 9ths having an added diminished 5th. Denser ornamentation increases the tension in bars 77-80. With the return of the opening, at bar 107, dominant-type harmonies replace the augmented 6ths heard at the beginning. The E triad, with added notes, enters at bar 125 and brings the piece to an end. A sense of striving toward clarification is achieved by the alternation of dominant and nondominant chords from bar 41. Attainment seems to be in view when the minor 3rd drops out and dominant-type harmony prevails after bar 82, and the radiant final E chord signals the creative artist’s triumph over adversity.⁷

A Nontonal Hierarchy

Op. 63 No. 2 (Example 2-29) is a complex piece which further demonstrates the ambiguities that arise from assigning a variety of harmonic meanings to certain pitches. There is considerable play on the minor/major 3rd of the chords. The major 7th, which in Op. 59 No. 2 (Example 2-27, bar 12) supported the augmented 2nd (minor 3rd) as an appoggiatura to the major 3rd, is not employed here, but other ways are found of making the minor 3rd subservient to the major.

Skriabin begins by assigning a new status to the tritone, which here is sounded harmonically in the bass. The effect of the bass tritone in Op. 59 No. 2 depended on sounding one note after the other, although as part of the same harmonic complex. This provided a unifying rhythm and made it possible, in the coda, to hear the C as a root and to isolate the F-sharp as a foreign note, a separation of functions which is essential to the logic of the whole piece. This was itself an important development from the previous two pieces, Op. 58 and Op. 59 No. 1, where moving a tritone in the bass always involved a change of harmony. The result is a greater harmonic density and concentration in Op. 59 No. 2. Now, in Op. 63 No. 2 (Example 2-29), the two notes of the tritone are sounded together at the beginning; they are not roots but the 7th and major 3rd of a dominant on C. When the A falls to F-sharp, the root is heard to change (to F-sharp), largely because of the D-flat (C-sharp) above, and the two notes of the tritone reverse their roles in the chord. Instead of the single tritone of earlier pieces, there are two important tritones in the first bar: the bass B-flat/E and the two roots C and F-sharp.⁸

In the first eighth note of bar 3 the pitches are the same as at the beginning, but the alternative root, F-sharp, is now placed first and put into the bass while C follows three eighth notes later. The tritone which was originally in the bass is assigned a secondary role in the middle of the harmony. There is a rivalry, interchangeability, between the tritones. In place of the two-fold conflict of Op. 59 No. 1, there is now a four-fold ambiguity, and that is the basis of the structure of the whole piece. In the remainder of bar 3 the tritone E/B-flat tends to fade as the result of the insertion of an F-sharp, and in the penultimate eighth note it is absent altogether while the F-sharp/C assumes greater prominence in the bass. This foreshadows later developments.

The music reduction (Example 2-30) is an attempt to assess the way these harmonic elements are deployed structurally. The pitches are given a hierarchic order but without having to resort to traditional tonality. Roots and bass notes carry the greatest harmonic weight. Notes prominent in the treble are next in importance, and those in the middle texture are the least significant. Relative harmonic strength is indicated by writing the main pitch centers in open notes and the secondary supporting pitches as black notes attached to the same beams. Notes in brackets relate to the principal pitches to which they are joined—either by inversion, as in the bass in bar 23, or because they originate from them by way of a sequence, as in bar 15. The notes arising from a sequence tend to be harmonically weak and, as they progress in time, to weaken the harmonic effect of their note of origin, as happens to the D of bar 12 and throughout the next four bars.

The A-sharp (B-flat) attached to the lowest beam, in company with its associated E, dominates throughout because of its harmonically strong position in the bass as far as bar 10 and its recurrence in bar 18 and at the end. However it does fade as the alternative tritone of bar 1, F-sharp/C, takes up the dominant bass position after bar 19, as foreshadowed in the first three bars. Between the period of the ascendancy of A-sharp, which ends at bar 11, and the assertion of F-sharp in bar 20, there are six bars dominated by the pitch D and its associated supporting A-flat. This insert affords a contrast comparable to modulation in a traditionally tonal piece. Like a modulating episode it is also a passage of instability because of the rising sequence, which gradually undermines the central character of the D. A similar moment of instability occurs at the end of bar 20 and the beginning of bar 21 before the final affirmation of F-sharp. The pitches A-sharp, F-sharp, and D, with their major 3rd relationship, are the principal pitch centers of the work.

In this piece Skriabin has attempted to extend his usual play on two tritone-related pitches to a play on four (B-flat, E, F-sharp, C). The problem with this music is that the harmonic complexities have reached such a density and the ambiguities are so numerous that nothing short of a careful analysis of the score, with attention to Skriabin’s notation, will enable the listener to hear all that is there.⁹ When the points of focus are so numerous that the listener has difficulty keeping up with them, all focus can be lost and a general vagueness results. Skriabin appears to have been aware of the problem because in his later works, although the upper texture became increasingly complex and discordant, there was a definite move toward providing the music with a stable harmonic foundation. This can be heard in such works as the Preludes Op. 74 and Sonata No. 10, which is dealt with in chapter 12.

The Russian Background

It is generally acknowledged that an important influence on the early work of Skriabin was the music of Liszt and Chopin, both of whom were interested in East European folk music and its modal inflections. The examples in this chapter also suggest that Skriabin’s harmonic progressions were influenced by the work of the Russian Nationalist composers. Occasionally in Skriabin’s compositions there is a hint of a more direct interest in Russian folk music. The opening melody of his Study Op. 42 No. 2 (Example 2-31), based on the minor triad, with its limited range and nota cambiata approach to the 5th of the chord, is exactly in the style of a great number of Russian folk songs.¹⁰ The melody helps to draw attention to the modal character of the scale inflections in the accompaniment—minor 2nd, augmented 4th, and minor 7th. Two years later (in 1905) in the Study Op. 49 No. 1 (Example 2-32), the effect is no longer so obviously modal; the same scale inflections occur in the left-hand chords but they have been fully absorbed into his style. Modal passages occur also in the late works. Instances are the two-bar melody of the Prelude Op. 74 No. 2 and the bass line of the opening and closing sections of No. 4 (Examples 2-33 and 2-34). The latter has a sound typical of Russian Chasidic music as well as much of the folk song of Armenia and the northern Caucasus which is dealt with in chapter 9.

In this last set of Preludes Op. 74, Skriabin extracted certain elements from his complex harmonic system and began to develop their possibilities in isolation. It has been noted in this chapter that Skriabin’s chords, when containing the minor 3rd, tend toward the octatonic scale; this is evident in Op. 74 No. 1, which is dealt with in chapter 8. In No. 2 eleven of the twelve notes are used freely over a complex tritone pedal, itself a development of his earlier style. No. 3 of the set is built on two of the modes of limited transposition, which are dealt with in chapter 9. In No. 4 the conflict of major and minor 3rd, characteristic of some of Skriabin’s pieces from Op. 59 No. 2 on, permeates every detail of the structure— this piece is considered further in chapter 11. Skriabin never fully explored the harmonic possibilities of the symmetrical modes, but his pioneer work in this connection points toward later developments in twentieth-century music, which will be discussed in chapter 14.

Attention must first be given to the composers who were directly influenced by Skriabin, and they are the subject of chapter 3.