RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
A1 Keprt, Marek
T1 To the Issue of Evil in the Late Works by Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin
JF Musicologica Olomucensia
YR 2017
VO 25
IS 1
SP 78
OP 97
DO 10.5507/mo.2017.005
UL https://musicologica.upol.cz/artkey/mus-201701-0005.php
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 préalable. 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.