”
Scream silently, and
do not vow
a garden of three
nor humble as he
To breathe no air
To see every speckle
To admit, never, never admit
These holes make the picture, so stare”
to op. 11: 7 in A major
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I AM GOD
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Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (Jan 6, 1872 — April 27, 1915 (he died an aries), b&D in Moscow) was known for his use of dissonance >in new light of the calssical sonata form, >writing for solo piano and orcehstral pieces only. Known for his descent to madness, some say, not because of, but while continuously seeking and practicing Theosophy. He was once quoted to write, ‘I am God’. Not to be misinterpeted. Came to believe that the indigdual ego and self, was eradicated completely so that nothing is left but God.
“This phrase, often wrongly attributed to a megalomaniac personality by those unfamiliar with mysticism,43(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Scriabin#cite_note-44)44(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Scriabin#cite_note-45) is in fact a declaration of extreme humility in both Eastern and Western mysticism. In these traditions, the individual ego is so fully eradicated that only God remains.”
Scriabin’s musical vision, equal in importance to his understanding of life, purpose, himself, the world, all blending together, featured many polarizing responses. On a pure musical note, Scriabin wanted his music to have a shining, shimmering like quality and feel. His reflection of organic life, bordering themes used in modern (21st century) science fiction or pscological thriller soundscapes, is fully backed by these off-colored shards of dissonance, while certain cadences and patterns follow traditional compositional rules. He is fully believed to have been a mystic.
I first heard Scriabin on February 28th, 2025 approx. 7:15pm on a Saturday evening, at Juliard, as performed by Amalia Shapira, a high school student studying under Sayaka Tanikawa. All 3 other performers part of the Tuba and Piano Juliard TDP paled in comparison to the expression Shapira’s choice in composition alone bled through.
Mysterium was his final and unfinished start to what seems to have been the ultimate culmination and final release of all Scriabin’s teachings, findings, and beliefs. Believed to set the world into finality, or “regenerate mankind through art”.
“This goal was to be achieved by means of a work which he referred to as the Mystery, which was to last seven days, would involve all means of expression and all of humanity, and would transform the world.”47(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Scriabin#cite_note-48) Ideas of unity, transcendence, the synthesis of arts, and transformation pervade Mysterium.”
“Scriabin wrote only a small number of orchestral works, but they are among his most famous, and some are performed frequently. They include a piano concerto (1896), and five symphonic works: three numbered symphonies, The Poem of Ecstasy (1908), and Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (1910)”
I listen to poem of ecstasy now, writing at the end of this first small splurge of note.
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Poem of Ecstasy…
To say i was unimpressed upon first listen……. leading up to the first, touch of bliss, hedging on clairvoyance. This first nudge, a personified rapture so excrutiatingly stark in both dynamic, timber, texture, and vocal prominence, it seems somewhat too sensical for a first harrowing moment. It is almost gimmicky, how (I will probably change thought on this, my naivety) flat, uninteresting, leading us to simply not any place, the first half seemed, to be met with that first sudden surge of blaring horns and fiery warm color. But through this, I find myself so eager to relisten, assured that I have missed the picture, the building, and the ideas that Scriabin was inducing prior to this.
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