The Notebooks of Alexander Skryabin Alexander Skryabin in 1914 (© Skryabin Museum, Moscow) The Notebooks of Alexander Skryabin TRANSLATED BY SIMON NICHOLLS AND MICHAEL PUSHKIN ANNOTATIONS AND COMMENTARY BY SIMON NICHOLLS FOREWORD BY VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY 1 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich, 1872–1915. | Nicholls, Simon, 1951– | Pushkin, Michael, 1944– | Ashkenazy, Vladimir, 1937– Title: The notebooks of Alexander Skryabin / translated by Simon Nicholls and Michael Pushkin; annotations and commentary by Simon Nicholls; foreword by Vladimir Ashkenazy. Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017042778 (print) | LCCN 2017044481 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190863678 (updf) | ISBN 9780190863685 (epub) | ISBN 9780190863661 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich, 1872–1915. Classification: LCC ML410.S5988 (ebook) | LCC ML410.S5988 A25 2018 (print) | DDC 786.2092—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017042778 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Oliver Smith (1979– 2013) CONTENTS List of illustrations  xi Foreword  xiii Vladimir Ashkenazy Editorial procedure  xv The Translations xv Russian dates xvii Acknowledgements  xix Introduction  1 Simon Nicholls CULTURAL CONTEXT  1 BIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS  5 The Writings of Skryabin (Russkie propilei, Moscow, 1919) 29 A Note by Boris de Schloezer on the Preliminary Action  31 The Notebooks: I. A SINGLE SHEET, WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF ABOUT SIXTEEN  49 II. PERIOD OF THE FIRST SYMPHONY, AROUND 1900  50 III. CHORUS FROM SYMPHONY NO. 1  51 IV. LIBRETTO FOR AN OPERA, WRITTEN AFTER SYMPHONY NO. 1 BUT BEFORE 1903  52 V. NOTEBOOK, SUMMER 1904, SWITZERLAND  61 VI. NOTEBOOK, 1904– 5  66 VII. NOTEBOOK, 1905– 6  102 vii viii Contents VIII. THE POEM OF ECSTASY  115 IX. [THE PRELIMINARY ACTION]: 1. Initial version, full text  125 2. Final, fair copy of the text, unfinished  158 Commentary  175 Simon Nicholls The growth of Skryabin’s thought  177 A ‘PHILOSOPHER- MUSICIAN’?  177 THE INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHY Music and philosophy  178 Skryabin’s reading  179 Ernest Renan  180 Greek philosophy  181 German idealism  183 Russian philosophy and Russian symbolism  186 Congress at Geneva  189 The influence of theosophy  191 Indian culture  193 Skryabin’s philosophy of music  194 Skryabin’s ‘teaching’  196 Thought in words, music, colour: Skryabin’s developing symbolist practice  203 SKRYABIN’S POETIC LANGUAGE  203 THE POEM OF ECSTASY: TEXT AND MUSIC (1905– 8)  207 PROMETHEUS: MUSIC, COLOUR, AND THE WORD (1908– 10)  212 The Preliminary Action  215 A PRELIMINARY TO WHAT?— ‘THE IDEA OF THE MYSTERY’ (LEONID SABANEYEV)  215 PERFORMANCE AS SACRAMENT  219 THE MUSIC FOR THE PRELIMINARY ACTION  220 People and publications  225 LEONID SABANEYEV  225 MIKHAIL GERSHENZON AND RUSSKIE PROPILEI  228 Contents ix Supplementary Texts by Alexander Skryabin  231 I. REMINISCENCES OF YOUTH  231 II. TEXT TO AN UNFINISHED BALLADE FOR PIANO (1887)  232 III. ROMANCE (1891)  232 IV. AN EARLY STATEMENT OF ASPIRATION (1892)  233 Letters to Natal′ya Sekerina: V. [JUNE 1892]  234 VI. [JULY 1892]  234 VII. [MAY/ JUNE 1893]  236 VIII. [JUNE 1893]  236 Letters to Margarita Morozova: IX. APRIL 1904  237 X. [APRIL/ MAY 1906]  238 Letters to Tat′yana Schloezer: XI. [JANUARY 1905]  238 XII. [DECEMBER 1906]  239 XIII. POEM TO ACCOMPANY SONATA NO. 4  239 XIV. OPEN LETTER TO A. N. BRYANCHANINOV: ‘ART AND POLITICS’ (1915)  241 Biographical notes  245 Bibliography  251 Index  259