Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) composed primarily for his instrument, the piano. He did, however, compose five major works for orchestra and a piano concerto. Scriabin's last work for orchestra, Prometheus: Poem of Fire, Op. 60 (1910), exemplifies his mature compositional style. The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute a solo transcription of Prometheus to the piano's rich literature in that genre. Furthermore, the dissertation aims to identify and examine the problems encountered in transcribing this work for solo piano and the decision-making that led to musically acceptable solutions. Throughout the process of arrangement, one major question became apparent: What informs the transcription? In turn, this question and its numerous answers served as a guide during the transcription's realization and are the focus of the project.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 268-280). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 69). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (D.M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1985. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-193). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) stands as one of the most unconventional twentieth-century Russian composers, particularly with respect to his piano works. The overwhelming majority of Scriabin's compositions—sixty-seven of his seventy-four published works—were written for solo piano. His etudes from 1905 forward are revolutionary, especially compared with his earlier Chopinesque style. Among Scriabin’s twenty-six etudes, his Op.49, No. 1 (1905), Op.56, No. 4 (1908) and the last three etudes of Op.65 (1912) date from his last period of composition. In the Op.49 etude, Scriabin started to abandon traditional tonality. He omitted the key signature altogether in the Op.56 etude. The final three etudes of Op.65 feature constant dissonances on ninths, sevenths and fifths. Alexander Scriabin’s last five etudes represent the culmination of his compositional development and innovations at the piano. Several factors coalesce in these etudes, including unusual harmony, bichords, non-tonal hierarchy, and structural symmetry. Most of these factors derive in some fashion from Scriabin’s increasing reliance upon the so-called “mystic chord” in his late works. This study will illustrate how Scriabin explored new sonorous and aesthetic ideas in his late etudes by means of these innovations.

In this thesis, a new approach to an understanding of the harmonic language in Scriabin's final compositions is presented. The analytical methods used draw significantly upon previous work done by Varvara Dernova, as well as some of the concepts of Manfred Kelkel. The thesis presents a qualified vindication of the structural importance of the quartal spacing in Scriabin's harmonic language. (This characteristic feature of the composer's pitch organization tends to be regarded by most contemporary theorists as merely an idiomatic spacing that the composer favoured.) / The thesis proposes that a structural, ten-note, harmonic matrix (formed through the summation of the octatonic and whole-tone scales) is the key to an understanding of the harmonic language in Scriabin's final works. Graphic illustrations are an important feature of the various analyses presented; these depict both horizontal and vertical aspects of Scriabin' s musical language in his final works, specifically, selections from the piano compositions op.71-74. The analyses also present an evaluation of the importance of the octatonic scale, believed by George Perle, Jay Reise, and Claude Herndon, among other theorists, to be the structural matrix in the late Scriabin oeuvre.

The importance of Scriabin in the present day is found in his underlying contribution to the direction of the use of the piano in this century. Scriabin's special performance practices at the keyboard are concurrent with those of such musical giants as Debussy, Rachmaninov and Schoenberg.It appears that one must evaluate not only the piano sonatas but all of Scriabin's works in a new light because in the face of present day multi-media they become experimental works. The piano sonatas in particular are advanced technical works experimenting with "color" and special effects derived from a conventional instrument. With proper performance and understanding, Scriabin's works become unique, not because of outstanding compositional achievement, but because of the beginning of a new concept in the synthesis of the arts. Also, Scriabin's harmonic innovations developed a system of tonality incorporating a new chord construction and concept of sound at the keyboard, so characteristic of the composer that they came to be labeled as the inimitable "Scriabin style."In the last decade, music scholars have finally begun to place Scriabin in a perspective of our modern music and have found him to be a "progenitor" of our present combination of psychedelic color effects with music as well as music's interrelation with mystic-religious influences. / School of Music

From thesis: Except perhaps for Debussy, Scriabin appears to be the most outstanding and productive composer amongst all his contemporaries in the field of the prelude. He wrote ninety preludes for the piano.

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