## Scriabin: Sonata No. 10, Op. 70 >[!tip] Piece at a Glance: Sonata No. 10, Op. 70 >- Composer: Alexander Nikolayevich **Scriabin** (1872-1915) >- Year Composed: 1912-1913, published 1913, premiered 1913 by Scriabin himself >- Period and Style: Modernist, Russian symbolist >- Nicknames and Subtitles: *Insect Sonata*, *Trill Sonata* >- Tonality: F Major (roughly); a mixture of the Lydian and acoustic modes >- Length: $12$-$13$ minutes >- Movements: $1$ (Moderato—Allegro, in sonata-allegro form with coda) The late sonatas are the apotheosis of Alexander Scriabin's piano writing. Starting with the Sixth Sonata, the composer had completely shifted post-tonal and was experimenting with scales outside of the usual major-minor binary. In particular, Scriabin was fascinated with the octatonic and acoustic scales (his Mystic Chord comes from the latter), and the late sonatas often feature the juxtaposition of these two modes. In Scriabin's new sound world, the octatonic scale represents darkness, while the acoustic scale represents light, thus forming a complementary pair. Furthermore, the composer had shifted in his religious and philosophical beliefs. Obviously, Scriabin was raised in the ambient Russian Orthodox culture, but at this point in the composer's life, he was a mystic and a pantheist. In particular, Scriabin believed that art was divine: the roots of these ideas were found in his First Symphony, Op. 26, and this snowballed to his desire to end the world via his unfinished *Gesamtkunstwerk,* titled *Mysterium*. In particular, the last five sonatas were written as preliminary studies for his *Mysterium.* The Tenth Sonata was composed in the winter of 1912-1913, and it was premiered in the same year by Scriabin himself. Scriabin also worked on the Eighth and [[Scriabin Sonata 9|Ninth]] Sonatas along with the Tenth; in fact, the Eighth Sonata was finished last.[^1] Nonetheless, the Tenth Sonata stands alone from the trio of sonatas written that winter. The octatonic influence has been attenuated, and in its place, the Lydian mode complements the acoustic scale. As a result, the harmony of the Tenth Sonata predominantly consists of simple extensions of major triads, with occasional intrusions of the Mystic Chord for extra brightness. In contrast to the blinding light of exorcisms found in the Seventh Sonata and the world-ending conflagration of *Vers la flamme*, the natural sunlight of the Tenth Sonata is gentle and pure. This being said, the Tenth Sonata still features terrifying encounters with the divine — the brain-bursting climax in the development of the sonata seems to signify the reception of esoteric knowledge, where the mind completely overflows with information. The coda displays Scriabin at the zenith of his ecstasy: motifs, gestures, and phrases are tossed around, again being simply too much information to process for the listener. In regard to the harmony of the Tenth Sonata, Scriabin's close friend and musical colleague Leonid Sabaneyev (1881-1968) recounts that Scriabin was happy that he "had succeeded in simplifying the harmonies without destroying their psychological complexity." It should also be noted that according to Sabaneyev[^2] again, Scriabin was complaining that equal temperament was too restrictive for him. Hence, the Tenth Sonata signals a further experiment within Scriabin's music; unfortunately, this experiment was cut short by the composer's sudden death in 1915. This pianist finds it poetic that the First Sonata, Op. 6, was written in F Minor, while the Tenth (and last) Sonata is based around the parallel F Major. The thunderous First Sonata was written when Scriabin was a despairing youth, on account of a serious right hand injury which put him out of performing for a few years. Through the turmoil of the ten sonatas, we see Scriabin's spiritual transformation, the end result of which was the Tenth Sonata, where he emerges a peaceful mystic, not at all concerned with the physical world. Of course, we must not read too much into this, for as mentioned above, Scriabin died suddenly, at the apex of his career. Music critic Yevgeny Gunst (1877-1950), in his review of Scriabin's premiere, writes that "\[the Tenth Sonata] is hewn as if from one single piece of granite: one can neither omit nor add even a dash — so stringent and logical is the whole." Indeed, the structure of the Tenth Sonata is sharp in comparison to the Eighth or the Ninth. All three of these sonatas employ sonata-allegro form, though the Eighth and the Ninth undergo significant changes in the recapitulation: the Eighth inverts the two theme groups, and the Ninth completely changes the texture of the themes. In contrast, the form of the Tenth Sonata is straightforward: Scriabin does skip the opening theme in the recapitulation, but this is simply because it had been developed in the middle of the piece. >[!quote] The Sonata of Insects >"Insects, butterflies, moths — they are all living flowers. They are the most subtle caresses, almost without touching.... They are all born of the sun and the sun nourishes them.... This sunlike caress is the closest to me: **take my tenth sonata, it is an entire sonata from insects**..." > >— Alexander Scriabin The nickname, *Insect Sonata,* comes from the quote above. It is excerpted from a conversation that Scriabin had with Sabaneyev and his second wife. The three were in the middle of discussing how animals corresponded to "movements of our souls," and apparently, Sabaneyev half-jokingly asked Scriabin what he thought of insignificant creatures such as worms or insects. Scriabin, of course, took this completely seriously, and used his Tenth Sonata as an example. Perhaps, Scriabin was alluding to the trills and tremolos which lend the piece its high difficulty; maybe he was thinking of insects fluttering by as he was writing. However, knowing Scriabin's beliefs at this time, it is easy to infer that Scriabin almost surely meant something deeper[^3] with these "dancing lights." To this end, we let the listener make their judgment. [^1]: It is slightly noteworthy to mention that *Vers la flamme,* Op. 72, was intended as the Eleventh Sonata, but due to financial concerns, Scriabin published the piece early. [^2]: We say "according to Sabaneyev" because Sabaneyev was occasionally fond of fabricating details to make his stories more impressive. Nonetheless, he still stands as an authority on Scriabin's life and works. [^3]: Scriabin did devise a program for the Tenth Sonata, though it does not mention insects. But he does say that "ravishment, tenderness, joy, warmth, and color all spring from the sun, \[and they] increase with the growth of the Ego." Perhaps this is the "deeper meaning" that he intended. #scriabin