Alexander Scriabin

A composer of Russian origin, Alexander Scriabin earned acclaim for his prophetic orchestral scores and keyboard works that arose after his immersion in theosophical mysticism while residing in Switzerland in 1903. Intent on conveying an impending metamorphosis of the world through an episode of majestic shared rapture—comparable yet not identical to the rapturists of today, and explicitly non-apocalyptic—he turned to creating entirely fresh keyboard pieces and symphonies, among them No. 3, The Divine Poem, No. 4, The Poem of Ecstasy, and No. 5, Prometheus, The Poem of Fire. Numerous technical innovations originated with Scriabin, including the octatonic scale and the "mystic" chord, each of which preserved a tonal foundation while yielding an unfamiliar sonic result that merged the lucidity of impressionism with the chromatic language of late romanticism to produce an altogether novel and disquieting effect.