SYMPHONIC POETRY: MAGIC, FIRE & LIGHT
a witches’ Sabbath, separate episodes of sorcerers, a solemn march for all in this nastiness, a finale.” He finally got around to composing it in 1866, but kept tinkering with it for years. It was not heard until 1886, five years after Musorgsky’ s death, when it was given in a new orchestral revision prepared by his colleague Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the standard version usually performed today.
Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bell in D, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, harp, and strings.
Alexander Scriabin
Born December 25, 1871, in Moscow, Russia Died April 14, 1915, in Moscow, Russia
PROMETHEUS, THE POEM OF FIRE, OP. 60 [ 1909 – 11 ]
Alexander Scriabin stood high on the list of his era’ s visionaries, although some of his contemporaries viewed him as one card short of a full deck. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory, but injured his hands through overzealous practice. He got involved with the Moscow Philosophical Society, which promoted a concept of God as the mystical unifier of all people. In Scriabin’ s mind, this meshed with his interest in Greek mythology and the idea that magic was a natural component of spirituality.“ Scriabin’ s philosophy,” wrote his biographer Faubion Bowers,“ above all else wanted transubstantiation in music, to turn sound into ecstasy. He searched for musical ritual which would recapture ancient history’ s magical-powers.” Eventually he turned to Theosophy, described by its founder as not a religion but rather a belief system whose occult overtones focused on powerful spiritual forces centered in Tibet.
Scriabin initially planned Prometheus to be part of a larger scheme he envisioned: Mysterium, a sacred theatre-piece he hoped to produce in the Himalayas, unrolling over seven days and seven nights as“ the act of union between the Male- Creator and the Woman-World.” It was to integrate all the arts and senses, including smell, and was supposed to transform not just the composer and performers but indeed all of humanity everywhere. It never came to pass.
It is not clear how he envisioned this work’ s connection to the mythic figure of Prometheus, who, for the ancient Greeks, enabled human civilization by stealing fire from the gods and giving it to Mankind. The composer authorized a program note that included this observation:“ Prometheus, Satan, and Lucifer all meet in ancient myth. They represent the active energy of the universe, its creative principle. The fire is light, life, struggle, increase, abundance, and thought.” Scriabin brought an immense orchestra to his Promethean task and envisioned that it would include a keyboard instrument that could project colors correlating to specific harmonies. Most performances today settle for just the notes.
Instrumentation: Three flutes, piccolo, three oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, eight horns, five trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals( pair), chimes, orchestra bells, tam tam, triangle, two harps, organ, celesta, and strings, in addition to chorus, solo piano, and color organ.
JAMES M. KELLER has served as the longtime program annotator of the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, where he recently completed his 25th season. He is the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’ s Guide( Oxford University Press).
18 | OVERTURE | BSOmusic. org