Scriabin’s Tenth Sonata was composed at the same time as the two Sonatas Nos. 8 and 9 in winter 1912/13. It was probably finished at the latest in June 1913. According to Leonid Sabanejev’s reminiscences Scriabin had already performed parts of the sonata to friends in spring 1913, saying that "he had succeeded in simplifying the harmonies without destroying the Sonata’s psychological complexity." Following the first performance in Moscow, a reviewer wrote: "The Tenth Sonata must be counted amongst Scriabin’s most inspiring works [...] It is as if it were hewn out of a piece of granite: one can neither leave out a stroke nor add one - it is so strict and logical in its entirety."
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Preface
Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915) wrote his Piano Sonatas nos. 6–10 between 1911 and 1913. An underlying mystical mood characterises these late works. During the composer’s last years, his study of theosophical writings had inspired him to create a “Gesamtkunstwerk” that would fuse music, poetry, pantomime, dance, light, colour, architecture and even scents into a … more
Critical Commentary
About the composer

Alexander Skrjabin
Russian composer and pianist. The focal point of his oeuvre is his extremely unique piano music; in addition, he wrote important orchestral works.
1872 | Born in Moscow on January 6, the son of a pianist (his mother); she died in 1872. |
1888–92 | Piano studies at the Moscow Conservatory |
1888–96 | Twenty-four Preludes, Op. 11, containing all the hallmarks of Scriabin’s early period: broad, ornamental cantilenas underpinned by figurations and arpeggios in the style of Chopin, complex rhythmic structure from polyrhythms and syncopations. |
1892–1913 | Composition of ten piano sonatas. |
1896 | Travels to Paris, Vienna, Rome. |
1897 | Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op. 20, in the style of Chopin. |
1897–1909/10 | He primarily composes orchestral pieces, including the major works “Le Poème de l’extase” (“The Poem of Ecstasy”) for large orchestra (1905–07), Op. 54, and “Prométhée ou Le Poème du feu” (“Prometheus or The Poem of Fire,” 1908–10); orientation toward Liszt and Wagner; programmatic music with occasional annotations in the musical score, incorporation of philosophical notions into his compositions, which are defined by various philosophical movements from around the turn of the century. Unusual intervals, harmonically at the edge of tonality. |
1899–1904 | Composition of his three symphonies, Opp. 26, 29, and 43. |
1904 | He resides in Switzerland. |
1906 | Invitation to the United States. |
1910 | Return to Russia. |
1908–10 | “Prométhée ou Le Poème du feu” for piano, orchestra, organ, choir, and clavier à lumière, Op. 60: enrichment of musical performance through plays of light. 1911–14, piano compositions, Opp. 61–74, with avant-garde harmonies. |
1913 | Beginning of the multisensory “Acte préalable” (“Prefatory Action”), which is never completed. |
1915 | Death in Moscow on April 27. |