Vers la flamme

[joegum]

According to the Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vers_la_flamme
"According to renowned pianist Vladimir Horowitz, Scriabin wrote "Vers la flamme" after a psychotic vision in which he witnessed the end of the world[citation needed]. The piece's title reflects the Earth's fiery destruction, as well as the constant emotional buildup and crescendo throughout the piece leading, ultimately, "toward the flame"."

As I seem to recall from "somewhere," Scriabin had a vision of the Sun exploding.

Vladimir Horowitz - Scriabin - "Vers La Flamme" on YouTube
http://youtube.com/watch?v=A0nrg7Lqfak

[clipwip]

I never heard Horowitz say that and I've read a lot about this. However, Scriabin spent a great deal of time contemplating the end of the world and how he was going to be the prime facilitator via his "Mysterium."

Scriabin was quite a freak. According to his aunt Lubya, when he was young he sometimes used to have seizures right before conceiving of a major composition. He was a mystic (manic-depressive or schizophrenic IMO) and used to have "mystical experiences" from which he derived much of his inspiration. Very fascinating character.

Also, Vers la flamme is one of my favorite piano pieces (I'm a pianist). I've tried to play it. Got it memorized and near performance level, but those double note tremelos are very taxing on the hand and I could never make it through the whole thing without them degenerating into a vague wash of sound. Horowitz "cheats" ALOT. He plays them with both hands usually and doesn't always play the tremelos when they're written. He's big on "donig his own thing" (improvising) when it suits him. But, usually when he does it's an improvement (IMO) on the piece.

[joegum]

I thought that one place Horowitz commented on Scriabin's vision was on the CBS special they did from his home where he played his own Steinway and they had people from Steinway there. In fact, I think that the clip I forwarded is from that very TV special where he comments on the origin of the piece. But, it was a long time ago and memory can fade.

Btw, if I had a convincing vision of the Sun exploding, I might tend to be a bit off the beam myself.

I wonder if he really was a synesthete? I had always assumed it was so, but I've encountered some differing views lately.

[clipwip]

I thought that one place Horowitz commented on Scriabin's vision was on the CBS special they did from his home where he played his own Steinway and they had people from Steinway there. In fact, I think that the clip I forwarded is from that very TV special where he comments on the origin of the piece. But, it was a long time ago and memory can fade.

Not exactly. I have that video which is included in Horowitz: A Remembrance. Horowitz says, "Somehow in his [Scriabin's] fantasy, he thought that one day will come that the heat will destroy the world. He didn't know that the atom could even have been invented then; it was 1912." I don't think this is what Scriabin believed. Maybe Horowitz's English was just terrible, but it had nothing to do with "heat," or even fire in a literal sense. Scriabin was convinced (as many were at the time in his social circles, and indeed throughout human history) that some sort of apocalypse was to occur any day which would usher in Nietzche's "Superman" race of spiritually evolved people and the "old world" would disappear in some sort of ecstatic (mystical/spiritual) conflagration. It was Scriabin's ambition to be the Messiah for this event and he believed that his Magnum Opus, "The Mysterium" would bring about this transformation. Delusional, yes; crazy, no. You have to sympathize with Scriabin's clinical mania which he clearly "suffered" from combined with his supernatural creative powers. Rarely in human history has anyone been endowed with such extraordinary vision, sensitivity, passion, originality and innate talent. If you were given such "godlike" powers it would go to your head too. Combine that with a clinical case of mania and it is very easy to see how Scriabin could get so carried away. People with absolutely no talent at all have similar visions in manic states.

I wonder if he really was a synesthete? I had always assumed it was so, but I've encountered some differing views lately.

Not sure, but if you've ever listened to his late music (like Vers la flamme), you would swear he was tripping his balls off when he wrote it. However, it is pretty certain that the only thing he ever got intoxicated on was alcohol.

[joegum]

"Not exactly. I have that video which is included in Horowitz: A Remembrance. Horowitz says, "Somehow in his [Scriabin's] fantasy, he thought that one day will come that the heat will destroy the world."

So, perhaps the heat is the heat of the inner, spiritual Sun? destroy the world = destroy the Matrix that has humanity trapped?

Or, maybe in a manufactured apocalypse some sort of hybrid human without conscience will be unleashed? The former humans will be extinct.

Thanks for the insight clipwip. You clarified some things for me. You're very knowledgeable.

-Joe

[clipwip]

You're very knowledgeable.

Well, Scriabin (especially his music) is a subject very close to my heart. I'm more knowlegeable on him and his music than most other subjects.