from wikipedia:
"mystic chord or Prometheus chord is a six-note synthetic chord and its associated scale, or pitch collection; which loosely serves as the harmonic and melodic basis for some of the later pieces by Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. Scriabin, however, did not use the chord directly but rather derived material from its transpositions."
more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic_chord
I used it in a piece on my last project. Unsettling and exotic, I thought it was a great way to kickstart the process.
Scriabin's "mystic chord"
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- Banned
- Topic Starter
- 283 posts since 4 May, 2022 from drippy, rainy wet western Oregon, USA.
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- KVRAF
- 25053 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
good for you, looking to grow your vocabulary…
more a topic for discussion if you describe or post an example of how you’re using it.
I kind of remember a first encounter with it. I associate it first with a scale I very probably noticed at/around the same time, the so-called harmonic scale (Lydian b7, 4th mode of melodic minor in ascension, etc).
It can be functional, a dominant 7th #11 (or b5) 13… the Wiki (albeit resorting to enharmonic spellings) notes a French Sixth with two additional tones, which is practically the same thing*.
IE: I would go with Gb rather than F# at bottom for the illustration. So, an Eb minor in first inversion, ie., spelled from Gb, the sixth augmented to E natural, with the attendant “French” #4 C. Gb Bb C E (A, D). Also CF., Wagner’s Tristan chord (*: kind of a precursor to the dominant b5) plus an added dissonance, D. {originally F A B D# G# (to A)}
OR: it’s similar to a harmony Erik Satie found ca.1892, mixed 4ths (in le fils des étoiles, prelude to Act I) planed following the theme… and here we can be pretty free.
while I went a bit jazz (it’s like a time-traveling McCoy Tyner, after all) - though not easily called functioning, ie., Dominant-Tonic - in an adaptation.
I’m pretty sure I saw it before I knew anything of that. I got very into synthetic scales then… So the scale and the vertical sonority are the same object to me. This is what Zappa’s Chord Bible does, while expanding to the full chromatic. So a 7 to 12 note scale sounding at once may be voiced to be “more musical” than one might expect on the surface.
more a topic for discussion if you describe or post an example of how you’re using it.
I kind of remember a first encounter with it. I associate it first with a scale I very probably noticed at/around the same time, the so-called harmonic scale (Lydian b7, 4th mode of melodic minor in ascension, etc).
It can be functional, a dominant 7th #11 (or b5) 13… the Wiki (albeit resorting to enharmonic spellings) notes a French Sixth with two additional tones, which is practically the same thing*.
IE: I would go with Gb rather than F# at bottom for the illustration. So, an Eb minor in first inversion, ie., spelled from Gb, the sixth augmented to E natural, with the attendant “French” #4 C. Gb Bb C E (A, D). Also CF., Wagner’s Tristan chord (*: kind of a precursor to the dominant b5) plus an added dissonance, D. {originally F A B D# G# (to A)}
OR: it’s similar to a harmony Erik Satie found ca.1892, mixed 4ths (in le fils des étoiles, prelude to Act I) planed following the theme… and here we can be pretty free.
while I went a bit jazz (it’s like a time-traveling McCoy Tyner, after all) - though not easily called functioning, ie., Dominant-Tonic - in an adaptation.
I’m pretty sure I saw it before I knew anything of that. I got very into synthetic scales then… So the scale and the vertical sonority are the same object to me. This is what Zappa’s Chord Bible does, while expanding to the full chromatic. So a 7 to 12 note scale sounding at once may be voiced to be “more musical” than one might expect on the surface.
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- Banned
- Topic Starter
- 283 posts since 4 May, 2022 from drippy, rainy wet western Oregon, USA.
I first encountered Scriabin while staying in the home of pianist Michael Ponti, who recorded his complete works.(that was more than 30 years ago yikes! I more or less see the chord as a hexatonic scale, or alternatively as a collision of two sounds - the more unsettling "lower half" with the relatively sonorous stack o' fourths in the "upper half". (of the illustration)
I merely posted it because sometimes something a bit strange like that can break us out of the usual routine. Another spice for the musical cabinet.
I merely posted it because sometimes something a bit strange like that can break us out of the usual routine. Another spice for the musical cabinet.
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- Banned
- Topic Starter
- 283 posts since 4 May, 2022 from drippy, rainy wet western Oregon, USA.
I'm sorry. Scriabin makes for an interesting topic in general. I'm sorta sorry the Mysterium never happened. Er- other than the end of the world bit. Finished off by a pimple! Still - the Himalayas - a light show - sounds great.
Satie I totally love - among other things for his sense of humour. A local coffee house used to hold a "vexations" night and hire a string of pianists to come in and play it - 840 iterations takes time. Patrons forbidden to talk about anything interesting...
Most of his music is lovely imo. I especially like "next to last thoughts"
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- Banned
- Topic Starter
- 283 posts since 4 May, 2022 from drippy, rainy wet western Oregon, USA.
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- KVRAF
- 25053 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
“I'm sorry.“
nah, that’s just a self-effacing remark per a context. one of the first signs of life this subforum has shown in a long while.
thanks for that
nah, that’s just a self-effacing remark per a context. one of the first signs of life this subforum has shown in a long while.
thanks for that
