ABSTRACT
The view that Scriabin’s music is best analysed through a formalist musicological approach, surveying the development of Scriabin’s style in a manner purposely removed from any socio-historical context, is one that has permeated a considerable strain of scholarship. Scriabin shunned the opportunity to explain in detail the inner workings of his harmonic procedures, once using the excuse of a headache to turn Sergei Taneyev and Alexander Goldenweiser away from a promised discussion of these intangible secrets. The increasing need Scriabin had for others to comprehend his music’s meaning can be understood if one considers the ultimate aim of unity the Mystery would call forth. Sabaneyev’s description in 1922 bears remarkable resemblance to modern topic theory and supports such an analytical approach beyond a purely theoretical one.
