Prometheus: Poem of Fire
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Prometheus: Poem of Fire, Opus 60 (1910), is a piece by Russian composer Alexander Scriabin for piano, orchestra, voice, and clavier à lumières, entitled "Chromola", an Color organ invented by Preston Millar. However, the clavier à lumières is rarely featured in the performance of the piece, including performances during Scriabin's lifetime. The music is highly dissonant, based almost entirely around Scriabin's mystic chord. However, the piece ends on a more traditional F sharp major chord (Scriabin's favorite chord). Prometheus is only loosely based on the myth of Prometheus. A typical performance is about 20 minutes.
The premiere was conducted by Serge Koussevitzky in Moscow on March 2, 1911.
Alexander Sabaneev produced a piano transcription for two hands in 1911. When he proposed this at first, Scriabin was of the opinion that at least eight hands would be necessary, and was reportedly even slightly discontent when he realized that his piece could be reduced this way.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Leonid Sabaneev: Erinnerungen an Alexander Skrjabin. Verlag Ernst Kuhn 1925/2005. (p75) ISBN 3-928864-21-1
