Anatomy of a right hand. Scriabin damaged his own and had to give up on a full-time concertist career.

The first published Sonata by Scriabin is both a cry and sigh against fate, the tragic loss of the full potential of his right hand. This injury was caused by intense overpractice of the demanding works Liszt’s Reminiscence de Norma S.394 and Balakirev’s Islamey Op. 18. Around the same period, he additionally wrote his Prelude and Nocturne for the left hand Op.9 : the transformation of personal tragedy into shattering art is a typically Russian romantic gesture for composers of that time.

This key moment in Scriabin’s life probably explains the overly developed left hand in most of his pieces : he hypothetically had to compensate the hand distribution to fully form his intense textures and counterpoint.

The sonata is divided into four movements:

Mv.1 : Allegro con fuoco

Mv.2 : Adagio

Mv.3 : Presto

Mv.4 : Funebre

The first movement is ambiguous, with extremely dramatic rising octavas on the piano (reminiscent of Schumann’s sonatas) intertwined with a second theme of pure joy and developed until reaching a state of ecstasy. The ending of this movement is a constantly in and out of major-minor tonality, finally concluding in F major, a deceptive “happy ending” soon undone by the dramatic funebre finale.

The second movement is a calm and melancholic Russian melody, while the third is characteristic of Scriabin’s very passionate and fiery spirit, full of octavas and repeated chords.

The finale is a tragic funeral march, echoing to the one that concludes Chopin’s Sonata No.2 and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” Symphonie. The march is midway interrupted by a choral of chord, quasi niente in the lowest dynamic of **quadruple piano, almost mimicking the last sight of a dying man.