Symphony No. 4 (Scriabin)

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Alexander Scriabin's Symphony No. 4 (opus 54), titled The Poem of Ecstasy (Le Poème de l'extase) was written in about 1905.

"In 1905 Scriabin began to compose his Poem of Ecstasy, which he elected to call his Symphony No. 4 even though it is stretching the definition of the form to the extreme to label a work such as this a "symphony." Scriabin seldom gave a concise programmatic description of his music, but he did write in rather vague terms about Poem. Scriabin described three sections: (l) his soul in the orgy of love, (2) the realization of a fantastic dream, and (3) the glory of his own art. He also wrote a long poem to accompany the music although not to be heard over it. The poem ends with,

"I am a moment illuminating eternity....I am affirmation...I am ecstasy."

In his biography of Scriabin, A. Eaglefield Hull describes Poem of Ecstasy as follows:

"in the first section, we find "human striving after the ideal" with "the Ego theme gradually realizing itself. The principal theme of the main section is associated with "the soaring flight of the spirit," the second theme, for solo violin, with "human love," and the third, for solo trumpet, with "the will to rise up." Varied emotions are expressed in the music: tragedy, stress, defiance, charm, pleasure and ecstasy. Towards the end, the trumpet becomes bolder and more majestic, abetted by other brass. The Epilogue is of immense power and triumphant grandeur, with tolling orchestral bells and heavy organ underpinning. To guide conductors, the score has such designations as molto languido ("as languid as possible"), très parfumé ("very perfumed"), avec une noble et joyeuse émotion ("with a lofty and joyous emotion"), avec une volupté de plus en plus extatique ("with a sensual pleasure even more rapturous" ), and charmé ("beguiled") -- plus more common indications" including "dramatic," "languishing," "tragic," "delirium" and "majestic." " ^[1]

This particular symphony differs from Scriabin's previous symphonies because it is done in one single movement, which lasts 20 minutes.

" "Poem of Ecstasy" displays Scriabin's style in full. This composition makes such a powerful impact on an audience that no conductor would place "Poem of Ecstasy" in the beginning or in the middle of his program. The work was composed during Scriabin's active involvement in the Theosophical Society." ^[2]