The Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68, commonly known as the ''Black Mass'' Sonata, is one of the late

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with ...

s 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 approved of it.

Structure and content

The ninth sonata is a single movement. It typically lasts 8–10 minutes, and is marked as follows: #Moderato quasi andante – Molto meno vivo – Allegro molto – Alla marcia – Allegro – Presto – Tempo primo Like Scriabin's other late works, the piece is highly chromatic. The ''Black Mass'' Sonata is particularly dissonant because many of its themes are based around an interval of a

minor ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

, one of the most unstable sounds. Its marking 'legendaire' exactly captures the sense of distant mysterious wailing which grows in force and menace.(1997), Ashkenazy notes, p6 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. 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. The piece ends with the original theme reinstated. 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.

Recordings

One of Scriabin's better-known works, the ninth sonata has been recorded and performed extensively, notably by

Vladimir Horowitz Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of al ...

, Vladimir Sofronitsky,

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...

Sviatoslav Richter Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter, group= ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet classical pianist. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his int ...

Andrej Hoteev Andrej Ivanovich Hoteev (Андрей Иванович Хотеев/'; 2 December 1946 - 28 November 2021) was a Russian classical pianist. Early life Andrej Hoteev was born in Leningrad. He studied piano at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in ...

,Discographie

Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Olof Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. He is the only American to have won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Com ...

Burkard Schliessmann Burkard Schliessmann is a German classical pianist and concert artist with an active international career. He attended the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and graduated with a Master's degree. He studied under several internationa ...

Structure and content

Recordings

Notes

References

External links