At the first performance of Scriabin's Divine
Poem, in Paris, 1905, the audience was
given a program which set forth the philo-
sophical content of the music. As a guide
to musical structure the program said very
little. As a coherent philosophical expres-
sion it said perhaps even less. Yet it attracted
much attention at the time — possibly as
much as the symphony itself—and as an
indication of the nature of Scriabin’s famous
attempt to “unite music with philosophy”
it is worth quoting:
“The Divine Poem represents the evo-
lution of the human spirit which, freed
from the legends and mysteries of the
past which it has surmounted and over-
thrown, passes through Pantheism and
achieves a joyful and exhilarating affir-
mation of its liberty and its unity with the
universe.”
Luttes (Struggles, First Movement) “The
conflict between the man who is the slave
of a personal God, and the free man who
is God in himself. The latter triumphs,
but he finds that his will is too weak to
proclaim his divinity, and therefore sinks
into Pantheism.””
Voluptés (Delights, Second Movement)
“The man allows himself to be captivated
by the delights of the sensual world. He
is intoxicated and soothed by the volup-
tuous pleasures into which he has
plunged. His personality loses itself in na-
ture. The sense of the sublime arises
from the depths of his being and helps him
to conquer the passiveness of his ego.”
Jeu divin (Divine play, Third Movement)
“The spirit, freed from its submission to a
superior power, and conscious of its unity
with the universe, abandons itself to the
supreme joy of a free existence — Jeu
divin.”
The author of this program was twenty-two
year old Tatiana Schlézer. Scriabin had met
her in November, 1902, through her brother
Boris, who was a pupil and friend of Scria-
bin. Tatiana had heard a performance of
Scriabin’s Third Piano Sonata the previous
year in the Caucasus and according to her,
“It was the strongest impression of my life.
After that | wanted to play nothing but Scria-
bin. | dreamed of seeing the composer.”’
The opportunity arose when she came to
live in Moscow the following year, and it was
an event that was to change the course of
both their lives. One evening Boris invited
Scriabin to the furnished flat he shared with
his sister. The composer arrived late and be-
gan to play the piano. Before long he was in-
terrupted, however, because playing was not
allowed in the building after eleven.
“To my brother and me it seemed like sac-
rilege to forbid Scriabin to play,” Tatiana
wrote. “But he only laughed and suggested
that if we wanted to hear more, we had bet-
ter go to his house. So we did. And he played
to us until two in the morning. And that was
the first day of our acquaintanceship.
“My aim in coming to Moscow was to
study composition under some competent
teacher. | had not dreamed of Alexander
Nikolaevitch in this connection. So much the
greater then was my delight when he him-
self, after seeing my compositions and im-
provisations, offered to teach me. . . Under
the fascination of his creative personality |
soon gave up all thoughts of composition. |
still went on working with him, but my aim
was no longer to find a means of self-expres-
sion but to understand his compositions bet-
ter.”
Scriabin was thirty years old at the time,
married and the father of a family. He had
just completed the Second Symphony and
had begun work on the Third. Although he
had little money he resigned his teaching
position at the Moscow Conservatory in the
spring of 1903 in order to devote all his time
to composition. This he wished to do in
Switzerland, but to make the move he first
had to accumulate some cash.
Taking a country place some seventy
miles from Moscow, he composed feverishly,
turning out thirty-five short piano pieces and
the Fourth Piano Sonata. At the same time
he continued work on the Divine Poem. “‘l
am scoring the symphony,” he wrote Boris
Schlézer, “and composing piano things. ..
| must finish thirty compositions during Au-
gust or my journey to Switzerland won't
come off — and that's all I’m thinking about.”
In spite of his industry he still lacked the
money to support himself, his wife and their
four children in Switzerland. At this point,
however, a former pupil M. K. Morozova of-
fered him an annuity of 2400 rubles “until
better days come.” Scriabin accepted and
he and his family left for Switzerland March
13, 1904. They settled at Vésenaz on the
shores of Lake Geneva, and Tatiana Schio-
zer followed soon after, ‘‘for reasons of
health.” Tatiana stayed close by in Belle-
Rive.
The critic Y. D. Engel ran across Scriabin
in Geneva that summer, and according to
Library of Congress Catalog Card Nur
*
him the composer was full of high-flown talk
about art, religion and society: “There will
have to be a fusion of all the arts, but not a
theatrical one like Wagner's. Art must unite
with philosophy and religion in an indivisible
whole to form a new gospel, which will re-
place the old Gospel we have outlived. |
cherish the dream of creating such a ‘mys-
tery.’ For it, it would be necessary to build a
special temple — perhaps here, perhaps far
away in India. But mankind is not yet ready
for it. It must be preached to. It must be led
along new paths. And | do preach. Once |
even preached from a boat, like Christ. |
have a little circle of people who understand
me perfectly and follow me. Particularly
one — a fisherman. He is simple, but a
splendid fellow.”
Engel met Tatiana Schlézer the same sum-
mer. “She was present all the time while he
played me his compositions, every note of
which she obviously knew and loved. . . . She
seemed to have taken his cause to her heart,
as if it had been her own and his composi-
tions hers. And this impression was correct,
as was proved by the near future.”
scriabin's wile Vera had, in marrying the
composer, given up a promising career as a
pianist. She had borne his children, had
copied out much of his music for him, and
had devoted most of her energies to secur-
ing his happiness and comfort. Now Scria-
bin told her that his work required solitude
and that he must soon leave her and his
home for the sake of Art. He set her to work
copying out the entire score of the Divine
Poem, which he had just completed, and
then left for Paris. Tatiana followed immedi-
ately.
In the French capital Arthur Nikisch di-
rected the first performance of the Divine
Poem at the Chatelet Théatre, May 29, 1905.
Scriabin’s benefactor Morozova had secretly
paid Nikisch three thousand rubles to obtain
the performance. Vera arrived from Switzer-
land for the concert, but when she and her
husband met this time it was as friends. Not
long afterward she accepted a piano profes-
sorship at the Moscow Conservatory and be-
gan the first of many recitals devoted to the
works of her husband.
Following the premiére Scriabin and Tati-
ana went to Italy where they stayed at Bogli-
asco, near Genoa, in a cottage overlooking
the sea. In these surroundings Scriabin con-
ceived the idea of his Poem of Ecstasy. It
was also there that Tatiana bore him a
daughter. — Harry Neville
YEVGENY FEDOROVICH SVETLANOV first
toured the United States as conductor with
the Bolshoi Ballet in 1964. He became musi-
cal director of the U.S.S.R. Symphony Or-
chestra the following year, and in that capac-
ity has issued a highly acclaimed series of
distinguished recordings of works by Rus-
sian composers. The Milanese newspaper
Avanti wrote of him, “Yevgeny Svetlanov is
a musician of great erudition and outstand-
ing technical skill who quickly establishes
creative contact with his listeners, at the
same time beautifully dominating the orches-
tra.”
The U.S.S.R. Symphony was described by
German conductor Franz Konwitschny as “a
perfect sounding instrument.” Charles
Munch said of it, “The orchestra delighted
me with its mastery.” Dmitri Shostakovich
wrote, “Brilliant technique, splendid orches-
tral discipline and projection, together with
artistic execution of design and highly re-
fined sound — these are the distinctive char-
acteristics of the ensemble which has been
propelled into the ranks of the greatest sym-
phony orchestras in the world.”
Produced and engineered by
ALEKSANDER GROSMAN
YEVGENY SVETLANOV'CONDUCTS ON
MELODIYA /ANGEL RECORDS
USSR. SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(S indicates Stereo)
BORODIN: Symphony No. 2 in B minor, Op.
5; In the Steppes of Central Asia; Polovt-
sky March. SR-40056
GLINKA: Jota aragonesa; Summer Night in
Madrid; Kamarinskaya; Valse Fantaisie;
Chernomor’s March & Oriental Dances
from “Ruslan and Ludmila.” © SR-40081
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 1 in D
minor, Op. 13. SR-40084
RACHMANINOFF: Isle of the Dead, Op. 29;
SCRIABIN: Poem of Ecstasy, Op. 54.
SR-40019
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10 in E
minor, Op. 93. SR-40025
STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring. SR-40063
TCHAIKOVSKY: (The complete sympho-
nies):
Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13 (“Win-
ter Dreams”’). SR-40057
Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17 (‘“Lit-
tle Russian”). SR-40058
Symphony No. 3 in D, Op. 29 (‘‘Polish”’).
SR-40059
Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36.
SR-40043
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64.
SR-40055
Symphony No. 6 in B minor (‘Pathé-
tique”’). SR-40060
Manfred (Symphonic Poem), Op. 58.
SR-40028
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