Piano Sonata No. 1 (Scriabin)

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The 1st piano sonata in F minor is Op. 6 by the Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915). It reflects - especially in the finale, which is designed as a funeral march - his fear of not being able to use his right hand pianistically.

Emergence

Scriabin's 1st Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 6, was written in the summer of 1892. However, it is not Scriabin's first contribution to this genre; it was preceded by two early works in G sharp minor and E flat minor (both without opus numbers). Scriabin had previously sustained a protracted injury to his right hand, presumably a tendonitis from excessive piano practice. Scriabin feared, reinforced by pessimistic doctors, that he would not be able to continue his career as a piano virtuoso. Scriabin himself made the reference to his piano sonata composed at this time (in 1894 he also wrote 2 pieces for the left hand op. 9) in an autobiographical note in 1906 in which he wrote: […] grumbling against fate and against God. Composition of the first sonata with the funeral march.

characterization

The sonata with a playing time of about 20 minutes is in four movements:

  • I. Allegro con fuoco
  • II. Adagio
  • III. Presto
  • IV. Funebre

The first movement follows the classical sonata form . The elegiac 2nd movement is in three parts (structure ABA). The 3rd movement is a rondo with a joke character, the 4th represents a slow funeral march. In an extreme expansion of the dynamics , a passage in quadruple piano is notated in the last movement, entitled Quasi niente .

The four movements have a close thematic connection. Already in the first theme of the 1st movement the tone sequence fg-a flat sounds, which also appears in the 3rd movement and characterizes the theme of the concluding funeral march. At the end of the third movement, the second subject of the first movement appears again. Stylistically, the sonata shows influences from Liszt and Chopin (the funeral march is clearly reminiscent of his B-flat minor sonata ), while the third movement reminds us of Brahms in places .

The 1st piano sonata is Scriabin's first work to be published by the influential publisher and music patron Belyayev . She earned the composer a fee of 400 rubles.

Scriabin only played his 1st piano sonata completely in public once: In February 1894 in St. Petersburg (although he occasionally played the funeral march in isolation), which could be due to self-doubt or traumatic memories of the associated crisis.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cit. n. Sigfried Schibli: Alexander Scriabin and his music . Piper, Munich / Zurich 1983. ISBN 3-492-02759-8 , p. 46

literature

  • Sigfried Schibli: Alexander Scriabin and his music . Piper, Munich / Zurich 1983. ISBN 3-492-02759-8 , pp. 45ff.

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