This Week in Classical Music: January 27, 2025. Scriabin and Schloezer, Part IV, the last one. Last week, we ended our story of the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin and his muse, Tatiana Schloezer, in 1908, with the composer completing the Poem of Ecstasy, his most innovative (and, looking back, the most significant and popular) piece, and living in Lausanne. Their son Julian, was also born in February of the same year. And it was in Lausanne that Scriabin met Serge Koussevitzky, a bass player and conductor, who, by marrying a daughter of a rich trader acquired a considerable fortune and was ready to become Scriabin’s benefactor. Koussevitzky, who would later become a beloved conductor of the Boston Symphony, organized a publishing house and promoted Scriabin’s works (and also published the music of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Medtner), and concerts, where Scriabin’s music was often performed. He also paid him 5,000 rubles a year, a considerable sum. For the first time in many years, Sciabin wasn’t poor. Koussevitzky was also instrumental in bringing Scriabin back to Russia, first as a trial, for a series of concerts in Moscow and St-Petersburg, and two years later, in 1910, permanently. Unfortunately, the visit to Moscow resulted in a breakup between Scriabin and his longtime benefactor, Margarita Morozova. Vera Scriabina, still formally Scriabin’s wife, attended one of the rehearsals of the Poem of Ecstasy; Morozova joined her in the hall, which was noticed by Schloezer who later created a scene. Scriabin joined in and demanded that Morozova choose between Vera and Tatiana. Morozova refused, and that was the end of her relationship with Scriabin. An interesting coincidence: Scriabin benefactors’ mansions stand practically next to each other. The distance between Koussevitzky’s mansion where Scriabin stayed during his visit to Moscow, and Morozova’s mansion is less than 100 yards. Morozova’s mansion is now occupied by Putin’s retired spies: it houses the so-called Russian Institute for Strategic Studies. Koussevitzky’s mansion was given to a Russian regional administration.
The year the Scriabins moved to Russia, his tone poem Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, was finished. It was premiered by Koussevitzky in 1911 and became as scandalous as the Poem of Ecstasy. Prometheus was the first of Scriabin’s compositions to call for colored light to be part of the performance. Scriabin strongly associated sounds and colors, a fascinating aspect of his creative work which we’ll address separately.
Life in Russia was not without problems, mostly because of Scriabin’s difficult character and Tatiana Schloezer’s influence. He broke up with Koussevitzky and lost his financial support. To earn money, he composed smaller pieces, mostly for the piano: sonatas Six through Ten were written between 1912 and 1913. Still, things were looking up. In 1912 the Scriabins moved to a new, larger apartment, next to Arbat Street (it’s now Scriabin’s Museum); the apartment became a gathering place for artists and musicians, especially theosophically inclined. All three of their children attended the Gnessin Music school, just around the corner on the Sobach’ya Ploshchadka (Dog’s Square). Scriabin’s music, the Poem of Ecstasy and Prometheus in particular, was played around the world, and his fame was growing. Things changed in August of 1914, as Russia entered the Great War. Scriabin’s piano recitals became the only source of income, and the family’s ties with Europe, where they spent so many years, were broken. Scriabin started working on the Preparatory Act of the Mysterium, a hugely ambitious composition in which he intended, in addition to sound, to involve light, touch and smell (when finished, it was supposed to be performed in the foothills of the Himalayas). In early April of 1915, he noticed a pimple on his upper lip, which developed into a furuncle, and on 14th of April (27th in the new style calendar) he died of blood poisoning.
Here is Vers la flamme (Toward the flame), the last piano piece written by Scriabin in 1914. It was recorded by Vladimir Horowitz in 1972. The portrait of Tatiana Schloezer, above, was made by Nikolai Vysheslavtsev in 1921, one year before her death at 39. In most photos Schloezer doesn’t look attractive; it seems the painter managed to capture something the camera couldn’t.
Scriabin and Schloezer, Part IV, 2025
This Week in Classical Music: January 27, 2025. Scriabin and Schloezer, Part IV, the last one. Last week, we ended our story of the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin and his muse,
Tatiana Schloezer, in 1908, with the composer completing the Poem of Ecstasy, his most innovative (and, looking back, the most significant and popular) piece, and living in Lausanne. Their son Julian, was also born in February of the same year. And it was in Lausanne that Scriabin met Serge Koussevitzky, a bass player and conductor, who, by marrying a daughter of a rich trader acquired a considerable fortune and was ready to become Scriabin’s benefactor. Koussevitzky, who would later become a beloved conductor of the Boston Symphony, organized a publishing house and promoted Scriabin’s works (and also published the music of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Medtner), and concerts, where Scriabin’s music was often performed. He also paid him 5,000 rubles a year, a considerable sum. For the first time in many years, Sciabin wasn’t poor. Koussevitzky was also instrumental in bringing Scriabin back to Russia, first as a trial, 
for a series of concerts in Moscow and St-Petersburg, and two years later, in 1910, permanently. Unfortunately, the visit to Moscow resulted in a breakup between Scriabin and his longtime benefactor, Margarita Morozova. Vera Scriabina, still formally Scriabin’s wife, attended one of the rehearsals of the Poem of Ecstasy; Morozova joined her in the hall, which was noticed by Schloezer who later created a scene. Scriabin joined in and demanded that Morozova choose between Vera and Tatiana. Morozova refused, and that was the end of her relationship with Scriabin. An interesting coincidence: Scriabin benefactors’ mansions stand practically next to each other. The distance between Koussevitzky’s mansion where Scriabin stayed during his visit to Moscow, and Morozova’s mansion is less than 100 yards. Morozova’s mansion is now occupied by Putin’s retired spies: it houses the so-called Russian Institute for Strategic Studies. Koussevitzky’s mansion was given to a Russian regional administration.
The year the Scriabins moved to Russia, his tone poem Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, was finished. It was premiered by Koussevitzky in 1911 and became as scandalous as the Poem of Ecstasy. Prometheus was the first of Scriabin’s compositions to call for colored light to be part of the performance. Scriabin strongly associated sounds and colors, a fascinating aspect of his creative work which we’ll address separately.
Life in Russia was not without problems, mostly because of Scriabin’s difficult character and Tatiana Schloezer’s influence. He broke up with Koussevitzky and lost his financial support. To earn money, he composed smaller pieces, mostly for the piano: sonatas Six through Ten were written between 1912 and 1913. Still, things were looking up. In 1912 the Scriabins moved to a new, larger apartment, next to Arbat Street (it’s now Scriabin’s Museum); the apartment became a gathering place for artists and musicians, especially theosophically inclined. All three of their children attended the Gnessin Music school, just around the corner on the Sobach’ya Ploshchadka (Dog’s Square). Scriabin’s music, the Poem of Ecstasy and Prometheus in particular, was played around the world, and his fame was growing. Things changed in August of 1914, as Russia entered the Great War. Scriabin’s piano recitals became the only source of income, and the family’s ties with Europe, where they spent so many years, were broken. Scriabin started working on the Preparatory Act of the Mysterium, a hugely ambitious composition in which he intended, in addition to sound, to involve light, touch and smell (when finished, it was supposed to be performed in the foothills of the Himalayas). In early April of 1915, he noticed a pimple on his upper lip, which developed into a furuncle, and on 14th of April (27th in the new style calendar) he died of blood poisoning.
Here is Vers la flamme (Toward the flame), the last piano piece written by Scriabin in 1914. It was recorded by Vladimir Horowitz in 1972. The portrait of Tatiana Schloezer, above, was made by Nikolai Vysheslavtsev in 1921, one year before her death at 39. In most photos Schloezer doesn’t look attractive; it seems the painter managed to capture something the camera couldn’t.