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Skrjabin a Bogliasco, in “Slavia”, IV, 1993 pp.156-67.
Aleksandr
Skrjabin stayed in Bogliasco from June 1905 to February 1906 for about 8 months.
This was one of the most intense periods in the Russian composer's life, as it
witnessed the composition of a large part of "The Poem of Ecstasy" and
of his notebooks, the definitive breakage with his wife Vera, the romance with
his muse Tatiana de Schloezer and the birth of their first-born daughter Arianne,
the friendship with Georgij Plechanov and the Russian exiles during the
revolution in 1905, the turbulent relations with his Publishing House after
Belaev's death. It is necessary to make a short reference to the events before
Skrjabin's Italian staying for a better understanding of the reasons originating
it. When in November 1902 Skrjabin met Tatiana de Schloezer (1883-1922), the sister of his pupil and friend
Boris de Schloezer (1881-1969), he was 30 years old and since 1897 he had been
married to Vera Ivanovna Issakovič (1875-1920), a brilliant pianist who had
given birth to 4 children: Rimma (1898-1905), Elena (1900), Maria (1901) and Lev
(1902-1910). Since September 1898 he had taught piano at the Conservatoire in
Moscow and had been surrounded by pupils keenly admiring him and who later one
would support him with precious financial help. He had a charming personality:
he had been an infant prodigy with angelic features and had been brought up and
cuddled by his aunts Ida and Ljoubov, two sisters of his father (started off to
the diplomatic service), and by his grandmother Elizabeth; his mother had died
very young; Skrjabin had immediately been successful as a pianist while as a
composer he did not move away from Chopin and Lizst; he had been supported
by the influential friendship with his patron-publisher Mitrofan Belajev.
Tatiana de Schloezer was a young and brilliant pianist; she had listened to
Skrjabin's Third Sonata in f minor
in 1901 and in her own words "it was the strongest impression of my life.
Later on I wanted to play nothing but Skrjabin's music. I dreamt of meeting the
composer". The meeting between Skrjabin and Tatiana would change both of
their lives: infact the musician saw her as the muse that his art needed; she
would help him to express his message. Tatiana felt she had been called to this
sort of mission: "Under this charming creative personality, soon after I
gave up all my ideas about composition...I did no longer aim at finding the best
way to espress myself but at arriving at a better understanding of his
compositions".
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