KNIGHTS OF SKRIABIN POPULARIZE HIS IDEAS
(the 80th foundation anniversary of Skriabin's memorial
museum)
- By O. Bugrova
This year
Skiabin's memorial museum in Moscow celebrates the 80th anniversary of
its creation. Pianist, composer, poet and philosopher, Skriabin went down
in history as the father of the symbolist trend in music. His legacy ranges
from romantic piano miniatures in Chopin style to monumental symphonic
pieces. An innovative-minded composer, Skriabin was one of the first to
experiment with colour music. Skriabin-philosopher propagated a fusion
of all arts into a global culture designed to unite humanity.
- Alexander Skriabin's memorial museum occupies a house on Arbat Street
in the heart of Moscow. In 1912 the 40-year-old composer rented a spacious
apartment on the second floor where he lived until his sudden death in
1915. With no money to pay the rent Skriabin's widow, left without means
of subsistence, thought of moving out but the house's owner, prominent
Latinist and an admirer of Skriabin's talent Apollon Grushka persuaded
her to stay and accept his financial support.
- Even after the composer's death Skriabin's hospitable apartment continued
to attract musicians, philosophers, artists and poets. The museum revived
traditional Skriabin concerts. Twice a year, on the composer's birth and
death anniversaries, renowned pianists play Skriabin's piano pieces on
his favourite Bechstein grand piano. Vladimir Sofronitsky is rightfully
considered to be the best interpreters of Skriabin's legacy.
In the 1960s
the museum housed an experimental electronic music studio with one of the
world's first synthesizers designed by engineer Yevgeny Murzin who called
it ANS (an acronym of Skryabin's full name Alexander Nikolayevich Skriabin).
ANS became a test ground for the search for new forms expression by Alfred
Schnitke, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Eduard Artemyev and other
modern Russian composers. Today the museum runs a whole set of international
projects, among them the "Skriabin and World Culture" book series,
regular music festivals and exhibitions in Europe. Skriabin's sketches
to his unfinished work "Preliminary Action" along with his special
"light circle" consisting of 12 electric bubbles painted in different
colours, each corresponding to a certain tonality, will be displayed at
a forthcoming exhibition in Spain. Close contact is being maintained with
the Skriabin society in Bogliasco, Italy, where the composer wrote his
famous "Poem of Ecstasy".
- "In 1984 we conducted a complex restoration of the building",
the museum's director Tamara Rybakova says. "This enabled us to essentially
expand our activity. We launched several new projects, among them "Children
Paint Music", the release of CDs featuring Skriabin's music in the
performance of young musicians, laureates of the Skriabin prize instituted
by our museum, and lots of other programs. This year at the 19th International
Convention of Business Initiatives in Paris our museum received the golden
star "For Quality". We are looking for Skriabin enthusiasts and
find them both in Russia and abroad".
07.29.2002
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