PT Journal
AU Keprt, M
TI To the Issue of Evil in the Late Works by Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin
SO Musicologica Olomucensia
PY 2017
BP 78
EP 97
VL 25
IS 1
DI 10.5507/mo.2017.005
DE Scriabin; Russian music; piano music; musical symbolism; evil
AB Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin denies the polarity of good and evil in favour of unity of all things. According to Skrjabin, evil occurs only in relative quantity and is a necessary accompanying phenomenon without which it would not be possible to reach higher spiritual spheres. This attitude leads to the adoration of relative evil, as evidenced by Skrjabin's texts, especially the conclusion of Poeme de l'Extase and the text Acte prealable. In Skrjabin's compositions of the middle and late periods, evil is manifested in three sub-spheres: 1) the sub-sphere of hidden forces, 2) the sub-sphere of death and the eternal cycle, 3) the sub-sphere of strange astral beings. These sub-spheres are provided with verbal poetic comments and have their typical features in the area of melody, metro-rhythm and texture. A significant means of expressing the negative principle is also the deformation of musical material.
ER