The Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68, commonly known as the Black Mass Sonata, is one of the late piano sonatas composed by Alexander Scriabin. The work was written around 1912–1913. Although its nickname was not invented by Scriabin (unlike the nickname White Mass given to his Seventh Sonata), he personally approved of it.
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The ninth sonata spans a single movement, typically lasting 8–10 minutes, marked as follows:
Like Scriabin's other late works, the piece is highly chromatic and atonal. The Black Mass Sonata is particularly dissonant because many of its themes are based around an interval of a minor ninth, one of the most unstable sounds. The ninth sonata is an unmistakable masterpiece; notable Scriabin contemporaries such as Igor Stravinsky praised it. Its marking 'legendaire' exactly captures the sense of distant mysterious wailing which grows in force and menace.[1] The opening theme is constantly transformed, from the early trill arpeggio's sounding unsettling and then completely shifting, eventually tumbling in rapid cascades into a grotesque march.[1] Scriabin builds a continuous structure of mounting complexity and tension, and pursues the combination of themes with unusual tenacity, eventually reaching a climax as harsh as anything in his music.[1] The piece ends with the original theme reinstated. The last chord being an augmented fourth, the tritone, or Diabolus in Musica, colloloquially called the 'devil's note' around which a whole mythology has accrued. Scriabin did not call his piece the Black Mass but did not disapprove of the title it has become known by.
Like Scriabin's other sonatas, it is both technically and musically highly demanding for the pianist, sometimes extending to three staves as opposed to the standard two used in piano music.
As one of Scriabin's more well known works, the ninth sonata has been recorded and performed extensively, most notably by Vladimir Horowitz, Vladimir Sofronitsky, and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
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