Scriabin and Rachmaninov

Many Russian composers, such as the mighty five, became successful by creating a new, nationalistic style of music. Some, however, received recognition by staying true to the already established western style. The most famous composers to do this were Rachmaninov and Scriabin.

Rachmaninov’s Prelude in Op. 32 no. 10 is a prime example of western style writing. He uses a melody based off of motives. One trait specific to Rachmaninov is that he uses such small ranges in the melody and uses a lot of stepwise motion. He uses this technique to develop this lyrical prelude. Another piece that is a good example of this is Prelude Op. 23 no. 4. It begins with a very small range, often going back and forth between only a second interval. As the piece continues, however, the range expands, intensifying the music. Both of these preludes also use a continuous arpeggiated pattern as a “background,” which was another stylistic quality to Rachmaninov’s music. The arpeggiations always follow the normal harmonic progressions used in western music though, and create very straight forward phrasing.

Scriabin, on the other hand, drifted farther and farther away from the usual use of harmonies over time. Although he didn’t follow the direction of the Might Five, he did drift away from the common western style composition that he began from. He had four musical periods during his life, beginning with a very Chopin influenced first period. By the time he reached his last period (op. 60 onward) he was composing music that some considered to be atonal. The etudes nos. 10-12 from opus , were composed in his “Chopin” period. They have more straightforward harmonies, a motivic melody, and arppegiated accompaniments. His later works start to move away into a more individual style he creates. Sonata no. 5 was written in his third period, and has more unity than his later sonatas. It is more of a transitional piece, still having ties to the style and form of sonatas preceding it, yet drifting away from it and leading to the future sonatas which would have no harmonic contrast. In his last period he had separated his style completely from the typical western style. In his 5 preludes of Op. 74 he uses very obscure harmonies and unclear phrasing and direction.