Scriabin, Poem of Ecstasy

The Poem of Ecstasy by Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) often goes by its French title Le poème de l’extase. It is one of only five symphonic works written by Scriabin, along with Prometheus: Poem of Fire and three numbered symphonies. He tended to focus instead on music for the piano.

Scriabin was fascinated by the intersection of colors and music. As I wrote in an earlier post on Scriabin, Carol and I visited his home in Moscow several years ago, and there you can see his electronic color wheel in action. It seems rather rudimentary, although not for its time, and you have to wonder what Scriabin might have done with the technology available today.

Other factors contributed to his reputation as an eccentric. His mother died just a year after his birth, and his father was mostly absent serving in the Russian consulate. Scriabin was left to be raised by his grandmother, an aunt, and a great-aunt. He reportedly grew up pampered, egotistical, and demanding.

The Poem of Ecstasy is certainly a colorful work with explosive passages, extreme chromaticism, and lush orchestrations. (What is the color of ecstasy?) Premiered in 1908, the work solidified Scriabin’s prominence among contemporary composers. A century later, the recently deceased philosopher and musician Roger Scruton declared Scriabin to be one of the most important 20th-century composers.

Although Scriabin fell out of favor when communism took hold in Russia, he was eventually brought back into favor, and when Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the earth, it was The Poem of Ecstasy that the official Soviet Radio chose to beam into space to celebration that achievement.