Scriabin and Schloezer, Half IV, 2025
This Week in Classical Music: January 27, 2025. Scriabin and Schloezer, Half IV, the final one. Final week, we ended our story of the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin and his muse, Tatiana Schloezer, in 1908, with the composer finishing the Poem of Ecstasy, his most revolutionary (and, wanting again, probably the most important and fashionable) piece, and residing in Lausanne. Their son Julian, was additionally born in February of the identical 12 months. And it was in Lausanne that Scriabin met Serge Koussevitzky, a bass participant and conductor, who, by marrying a daughter of a wealthy dealer acquired a substantial fortune and was able to develop into Scriabin’s benefactor. Koussevitzky, who would later develop into a beloved conductor of the Boston Symphony, organized a publishing home and promoted Scriabin’s works (and likewise revealed the music of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Medtner), and live shows, the place Scriabin’s music was typically carried out. He additionally paid him 5,000 rubles a 12 months, a substantial sum. For the primary time in a few years, Sciabin wasn’t poor. Koussevitzky was additionally instrumental in bringing Scriabin again to Russia, first as a trial, 
for a collection of live shows in Moscow and St-Petersburg, and two years later, in 1910, completely. Sadly, the go to to Moscow resulted in a breakup between Scriabin and his longtime benefactor, Margarita Morozova. Vera Scriabina, nonetheless formally Scriabin’s spouse, attended one of many rehearsals of the Poem of Ecstasy; Morozova joined her within the corridor, which was seen by Schloezer who later created a scene. Scriabin joined in and demanded that Morozova select between Vera and Tatiana. Morozova refused, and that was the tip of her relationship with Scriabin. An fascinating coincidence: Scriabin benefactors’ mansions stand virtually subsequent to one another. The gap between Koussevitzky’s mansion the place Scriabin stayed throughout his go to to Moscow, and Morozova’s mansion is lower than 100 yards. Morozova’s mansion is now occupied by Putin’s retired spies: it homes the so-called Russian Institute for Strategic Research. Koussevitzky’s mansion was given to a Russian regional administration.
The 12 months the Scriabins moved to Russia, his tone poem Prometheus: The Poem of Fireplace, was completed. It was premiered by Koussevitzky in 1911 and have become as scandalous because the Poem of Ecstasy. Prometheus was the primary of Scriabin’s compositions to name for coloured mild to be a part of the efficiency. Scriabin strongly related sounds and colours, an enchanting side of his artistic work which we’ll handle individually.
Life in Russia was not with out issues, largely due to Scriabin’s troublesome character and Tatiana Schloezer’s affect. He broke up with Koussevitzky and misplaced his monetary help. To earn cash, he composed smaller items, largely for the piano: sonatas Six by way of Ten have been written between 1912 and 1913. Nonetheless, issues have been wanting up. In 1912 the Scriabins moved to a brand new, bigger house, subsequent to Arbat Avenue (it’s now Scriabin’s Museum); the house turned a gathering place for artists and musicians, particularly theosophically inclined. All three of their kids attended the Gnessin Music college, simply across the nook on the Sobach’ya Ploshchadka (Canine’s Sq.). Scriabin’s music, the Poem of Ecstasy and Prometheus specifically, was performed all over the world, and his fame was rising. Issues modified in August of 1914, as Russia entered the Nice Battle. Scriabin’s piano recitals turned the one supply of revenue, and the household’s ties with Europe, the place they spent so a few years, have been damaged. Scriabin began engaged on the Preparatory Act of the Mysterium, a massively formidable composition through which he supposed, along with sound, to contain mild, contact and odor (when completed, it was alleged to be carried out within the foothills of the Himalayas). In early April of 1915, he seen a pimple on his higher lip, which developed right into a furuncle, and on 14th of April (27th within the new type calendar) he died of blood poisoning.
Right here is Vers la flamme (Towards the flame), the final piano piece written by Scriabin in 1914. It was recorded by Vladimir Horowitz in 1972. The portrait of Tatiana Schloezer, above, was made by Nikolai Vysheslavtsev in 1921, one 12 months earlier than her demise at 39. In most photographs Schloezer doesn’t look enticing; it appears the painter managed to seize one thing the digicam couldn’t.
