The Association is delighted to announce the imminent appearance of a treatise composed many years ago, by an outstanding practical musician – a composer –, treating Scriabin’s harmony from first to last in traditional terms. It is worth brushing up your French for Joseph Beer, and he will meet you more than halfway!
Scriabin Decoded:
A Groundbreaking Study by
“Suppressed Composer” Joseph Beer
The late “Suppressed Composer” Joseph Beer, whose works are currently coming back to the international operatic arena, defended his thesis, The Evolution of Harmonic Style in Scriabin’s Oeuvre (L’Évolution du Style Harmonique dans l’Œuvre de Scriabine) at the Sorbonne University before a jury headed by famed musicologist and philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch. Beer received his doctorate degree on May 2, 1966, with “Very Honorable Mention and Felicitations of the Jury.”
Dr. Jankélévitch hailed the thesis as “the best study…, the most complete and the most rigorous, on Scriabin” and offered to preface a popularized version in print. But Beer’s sole passion was composition.
Fast-forward to 2024: the thesis is slated for publication featuring a Foreword by superstar piano virtuoso Daniil Trifonov and an Introduction by famed pianist Marc-André Hamelin, along with a Preface by leading Scriabin scholar Simon Nicholls.
An innovative, unique study “of a composer by a composer,” the thesis features a ground-breaking, extremely sophisticated and detailed harmonic analysis of Scriabin’s entire body of works – nothing short of astounding! It establishes Scriabin, on the basis of concrete examples of specific chords and passages, as a leading 20th century composing genius, the root cause of major innovations claimed by his contemporaries or successors.
Thesis Background
March 1938: A few days after the annexation of Austria to Germany, the brilliant young Polish-born composer Joseph Beer had to flee Vienna, where he had moved to study at the prestigious Hochschule für Musik with noted composition teacher Joseph Marx. He was on the brink of a major international career. His life threatened, he headed for Paris, thanks to Châtelet Opera director Maurice Lehmann who helped secure a French visa for him.
Beer’s brother, Dr. Joachim Beer (who had been sent from Poland to study medicine in the French medical epicenter of Strasbourg) also assisted by quickly registering Beer as a doctoral student at the Sorbonne University. Under great pressure to select a thesis topic within the shortest delays, Beer quickly threw the name “Scriabin.”
And so it was.
There were delays. World War II and the Holocaust intervened, and Beer lost everything: his career, his connections, and most importantly, his closest family members, namely his beloved parents and young sister.
Also, after the war, Beer’s dissertation advisor, a former Nazi collaborator, kept creating roadblocks to the completion of the thesis, mailing it back several times with various requests for changes and overhauls. Beer got to the point where he was discouraged, on the verge of giving up. Urged by his loving, supportive spouse, the late Hanna Beer née Königsberg, his closest post-war associate of some 40 years, he persevered.
On May 2, 1966, twenty-eight years after initially registering as a doctoral student, Joseph Beer earned a Doctorate in Musicology from the Sorbonne University with Mention Très Honorable et Félicitations du Jury, the highest ranking attainable.
Scriabin Decoded: The Thesis
In this innovative, thought-provoking, one-of-a-kind study, the author-composer brilliantly decrypts Scriabin’s intricate harmonic structures. Painstakingly decoding the dense Scriabinian fabric composition by composition, he reveals by the same token, proof in hand, a new Scriabin, “one who will herald and contribute to foster a new musical concept.”
First Section: Scriabin and his Universe
This First Section outlines the scope of the study, based on Scriabin’s diversified interests, as a “musician and philosopher, the creator of the ‘Mystery’ and the prophet of a Transfiguration of the World through the magic of arts in fusion”.
It outlines Scriabin’s “Three Periods” of compositional technique, the First Period (1892-1903) being the longest albeit the least significant, when Scriabin is happy to “only be a musician.”
The Second Period (1903-1910), to which Beer dedicates the bulk of his study, is Scriabin’s “phase of artistic maturity, […] his philosophic-mystical period”. It sees the blossoming of his unique concept of the “Mystery.” “Art becomes, for Scriabin, a magical force intended for a grandiose activity: transfiguration of humanity.”
This is a period when “in search of unheard sonorities,” Scriabin composes Prometheus, when his famous “Mystic Chord – C- F♯- B♭-E-A-D – will take its definite form.” He uses optical science and the laws of acoustics to “certify the Promethean ladder-chord” – on which Beer will expound at length in the fifth and longest chapter of the thesis – in an attempt to lend his system scientific grounds1.
The Third Period (1910-1915) “will see the mystical atmosphere intensify” with the composition of the last Sonatas, among which the White Mass (or 7th Sonata) and the Black Mass (9th Sonata). This period is characterized by “monochromy and harmonic depletion” and the introduction of other modes, of “almost atonal, symmetric octophonic ladder-chords.” The last Five Preludes (Op. 74) were composed during that Third Period and “enter already into a space of apparent atonality.”
Chapter I: Lifeand Oeuvre
This chapter comprises approximately a tenth of the entire study. It is constituted of a short biographical essay on the pianist-composer, on his early trifold passion for music, mysticism and philosophy.
Delving mainly into the development of Scriabin’s compositional style and compositions, Beer also analyses the evolving mystical and philosophical considerations associated with them. Based on the “Formula,” “Art is a symbol of Divinity,” “Scriabin will arrive at his Doctrine of Salvation through Ecstasy, and of the Transfiguration of the World through the magic of music and the merging of all artforms”.
Concluding with a quote from Scriabin himself, “these are but theories. The best thing in the world is still music,” the author ends this chapter with an invitation to study “that which is undeniably the most important aspect of Scriabin: his music”.
Second Section Musical Style
Chapter II: Scriabin, a Composer of Harmony
In this Chapter, Beer justifies focusing on the topic of harmony in Scriabin’s work as being “the most significant and developed aspect of his oeuvre” – over the other two staples of the compositional triad, viz., melody and rhythm. Scriabin can be predominantly recognized based on his creative harmonies, such as the new chord formations he coined, e.g., “Synthetic,” “Central” or “Mystic.”
Chapter III: Tonal System
In this chapter, the author-composer provides a succinct overview of the history of classical harmony, starting from Jean-Philippe Rameau all the way to Chopin, Wagner, and on to serial music.
Beer makes a very important point: in the context of such evolution, Scriabin’s oeuvre “achieved a milestone the importance of which seems to have been forgotten nowadays, if it was ever acknowledged”.
“In conjunction with the atonal movement, but independently from it, Scriabin will build ladder-like scales devoid of any tonic, chords featuring superimposed fourths, dissonances with no resolution, without the need for recording a severance from the tonal concept as we just defined it.”
Citing among others six specific ways in which Scriabin contributed to “tonal emancipation,” including discussions around the “core of his harmony,” Beer states that “Scriabin’s oeuvre, the completion of which coincides with the starting point of the atonal-serial and dodecaphonic doctrine – will constitute an organic step in the development of music, carrying on the revolution undertaken by Beethoven.”
Chapter IV: First Period (1892-1903) (Musical Style)
Beer observes in this chapter that “Scriabin started within the confines of the classical tonal system.” His first pieces were written under the influence of Chopin, although they were already bearing their own idiosyncratic style which the author outlines among others through a detailed harmonic analysis of Scriabin’s first composition, the Waltz in F, Op. 1. In it, we see the start of what will ultimately become a “gradual proscription of the tonic.”
“Conjunctly with the elimination of the consonance will come the progressive emancipation of the dissonance” states Beer, citing one of Scriabin’s favorite dissonances, the major 7th, as an example, and using, among others, specific measures from the 10th Prelude of the 24 Preludes (Op. 11) to prove his point.
“Later on, the major 7th will be used as a stable dissonance… and thus, the notion of a dissonance according to its classical definition will start to lose its original significance… in a process which will eventually lead to the overhaul of the tonal system.”
Among dissonances which Scriabin favors, “we will soon be able to catch a glimpse (Op. 30) of the future Mystic Chord at its first stages” – while following the transformation of the role of the tonic and the dominant, we will see “the diatonic scale subject to a slow transformation which will lead to the six- or seven-tone harmonic ladder-like scales which lack any type of hierarchy or acoustic attraction from a tonal point of view.”
Beer concludes with a bold, thought-provoking statement: “As a modern musician [Scriabin …] will have thus laid the foundation to the transformation of the structure of musical awareness.”
Noteworthy: in this chapter can be found the first of what will be an astounding 196 musical examples – most of which written manually by the author-composer – excerpted from Scriabin’s works and used throughout the dissertation to establish or prove specific points.
Chapter V: Second Period(1903-1910)
In this Chapter, Beer tackles Scriabin’s second and most important period of composition which lasts from 1903 to 1910. He dedicates to it almost half of his study.
This is the period when the true Scriabin emerges. He starts to adopt his “Mystic Ideal” which will become “the main goal of his life”: “the ills of the world shall be vanquished thanks to Art which shall have the duty and the means to transform the World.” Scriabin has now selected his favorite form: a “Super-Cantata-Oratorio” of a hybrid liturgical-artistic nature.
The color of his music soon comes to mirror this inner change. The previously predominant minor mode gives way now to the major mode. “His desire for harmonic renewal […] will find its manifestation in […] the ‘Mystic Chord’. This cluster […] will first appear as a Dominant 7th or 9th chord with an ascending then descending fifth alteration.”
Eventually, “the descending alteration”, viz., the diminished fifth, “will be predominantly used in Scriabin’s compositions of the Second Period […]”. Used “in the dominant 7th and 9th chords and their derivatives… it will give his style its distinctive feature.”
In the meantime, the role of the tonic will decrease further and further. “The disintegration of tonality seems from now on quite advanced. Thus, the process of a progressive detachment from the functional tonal system will advance forward.”
Scriabin’s “Typical Chord,” born of alterations, appoggiaturas, and added notes, “will end up rendering Scriabin’s music monoharmonic” which will give his compositions their remarkable unity.
Beer introduces here Scriabin’s first major opus, the 4th Sonata (Op. 30). Ever since that composition, “the new chord will be found continuously marching throughout Scriabin’s pianistic and symphonic oeuvre” to eventually find its own harmonic design by morphing through various forms which the author takes the time to meticulously outline along with specific examples and chord formations.
Beer introduces innovative chords and their first appearance, such as the natural 11th chord, which first appears in Op. 43, Divine Poem (1905) or the Promethean “Chord-Mode” – or, later on, the “Harmony-Scale”.
In Prometheus, writes Beer, “Scriabin will endeavor to replace the tonal system with his own system, which he will title ‘Central’ or ‘Synthetic’”. This is a “specialization of the harmonic language into one sole, distinctive cluster.” Beer explains how, using specific chords (e.g., hexaphone chords and clusters, etc.) and harmonic structures excerpted from Prometheus, White Mass and other precise excerpts from Scriabin’s compositions. He traces the “loosening of tonal feeling” step-by-step through Scriabin’s compositions such as Op. 56.
Among thought-provoking revelations made by the author-composer are the flagging of clusters very similar to Scriabin’s found in Richard Strauss’ Salomé and Elektra — written however after Scriabin’s compositions such as the 6th Sonata (Op. 62).
Beer also reports Scriabin’s influence on Stravinsky’s Petrushka, and the presence of Scriabin’s sophisticated chords “at the trial stage” in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
“Let us point out,” he explains, “that the eight-tone-scale, used, after Scriabin, by Stravinsky and among others Bartók, has nowadays been duplicated and systematized under the phrase “limited transposition modes” par Olivier Messiaen.”
As always, Beer bases his statements on specific musical examples and excerpts.
Chapter VI: Third Period (1910-1915)
We now move on to Scriabin’s third and last period in Chapter VI, which opens with a mention of the 9th Sonata, or Black Mass (Op. 68). This work marks a milestone “in the evolution of the Scriabinian oeuvre” which Beer delves into for several pages.
It is indeed indicative of a stylistic change, marked by “the broadening of the ‘Promethean’ vocabulary […] on one end, and a more rigorous discipline aiming at the simplification of harmonic structures, on the other hand.”
Year 1914 will see Scriabin “entirely absorbed by the ‘Preliminary Action’ […], a sort of a raising of the curtain on this ‘Mystery’ which was supposed to be the crown jewel of his production” and around which all of his compositions of that year revolve, such as the last Five Preludes (Op. 74) – which the author-composer analyzes in great detail.
Ever aware of Scriabin’s innovating genius — Beer helps us realize that “while certain aspects of Scriabin’s oeuvre, such as the quest for a fusion of all arts, are reminiscent of Wagner and bear the influence of the Gesamtkunstwerk, the sensitivity of his harmonies, inherited from Chopin, and the continuous evolution of his profoundly creative language, will greatly contribute, and in a decisive manner, to the renewal of musical structures.”
Conclusion
In this innovative, thought-provoking, one-of-a-kind study, the author-composer brilliantly decrypts Scriabin’s intricate harmonic structures. Painstakingly decoding the dense Scriabinian fabric composition by composition, he reveals by the same token, proof in hand, a new Scriabin, “easily recognizable from the originality of his harmonic discourse, the new chord formations which he, as it were, created and launched” – one whose heretofore unacknowledged innovations “have actually laid the foundation for the transformation of the structure of musical consciousness.”
Having brilliantly decoded some of the most hermetic of harmonic languages, Beer concludes his revelatory study with the following powerful words: “The spirit of [Scriabin’s] harmony […] will have shown to us that the author of Prometheus, while still belonging to the post-Romantic era, will have contributed through his oeuvre to the march of harmonic evolution through time.” He closes saying, “he will have paved the way, as of the very first decades of the 20th century, for the dawn of a new musical thought system and logic.”
Bibliographical References
Extensive references include 5 bibliographies: a general chronology of Scriabin’s compositions, a list of monographs, studies, anthologies and encyclopedia excerpts (containing all the familiar names: Jules Combarieu, Leonid Sabaneev, Boris de Schloezer, Eaglefield Hull, Oskar Riesemann, Alfred Swann, Victor Belaieff, etc.) with and without annotations, a list of magazines and periodicals with and without annotations, and a list of Scriabin’s writings and correspondence.
A list of the 196 examples by order of appearance has been compiled by the editor and added to the bibliographical references.
Editor’s Note
We hope this overview will have helped readers in gaining an idea of the scope of this colossal, masterful study of “a composer by a composer,” and that they will now be inspired to read such a study in its entirety!
The innovative nature of this work, with its many in-depth analyses, examples and leading-edge discoveries, has the potential to change the view the world currently has of Alexander Scriabin. It is likely to upgrade him from the status of a fairly well-known composer to the well-deserved level of a major 20th composer, one who “participated in the transfiguration […] of musical language.”
Based on a virtual presentation initially made by Béatrice Beer on October 10, 2022, for the Alexander Scriabin Memorial Museum International Scientific Conference titled: “Creative Heritage of A.N. Scriabin in the Context of the Artistic Culture of the 20th -21st Centuries” in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the A.N. Scriabin’s birth. Edited by Simon Nicholls
Photos of Joseph Beer: Courtesy of the Joseph & Hanna Beer Foundation
Photos of Musical Examples: Dr. Suzanne Beer, Courtesy of the Joseph & Hanna Beer Foundation
Drawing of Scriabin at the piano: Limited edition drawing of A.N. Scriabin at the piano by Leonid Pasternak (1909) gifted to Joseph Beer by Leonid Sabaneyev, Beer’s personal friend and copyist in Southern France.
More info at www.JosephBeerComposer.com
- Editorial note: Beer used the term échelle – ‘ladder’ – for non-diatonic scales devised by Scriabin which Beer considered to have less pull to the tonic than the major and minor, and ‘ladder-chord’ for a harmony involving the ‘ladder’ as a simultaneity. The Promethean chord is made out of the ‘ladder’ C-D-E-F♯-A-B♭. ↩︎