The A.N. Scriabin Memorial Museum

Bolshoi Nikolopeskovsky pereulok 11
Moscow 121002 Russia
Tel: (7095) 241 19 01

The A.N. Scriabin Memorial Museum is housed in the two story mansion in the Old Arbat section of Moscow where the composer Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin spent the last three years of his life (April 12 to April 1915). It was here that he wrote the musical masterpieces: the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Sonatas, Two Dances “Garlands,” “the Dark Flame” Composition 73 and Five Preludes Composition 74.

The house was a cultural center of Moscow in the early XX century hosting such guests as the music critics Gunst and Sabaneev, the poets Balmont, Ivanov and Baltrushaitis, the writer Zaitsev and theatrical personalities Tairov and Meierhold. S. Bulgakov and N. Berdyaev held philosophical discussions here. In 1922, the home became a State Memorial Museum.

Everything in the Museum is kept as it was in the time of the composer’s life. It contains a color device made be the engineer Moser according to the composers sketches. The device was intended to accompany the “Prometheus” symphonic poem by Scriabin, the first composition to combine both color and sound. The museum also is home to the grand piano made by “Bechstein” especially for A.N. Scriabin. Since the death of the composer the piano has been played by such great pianists as Vladimir Horowitz and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Each year the Museum hosts a competition to award scholarships to young musicians. Ten out of seventeen scholarship recipients have already won international competitions. The Museum is also a research and education center. It is open to visitors with tours conducted in Russian and English. Concerts of classical and contemporary music are held here as well as recitals, readings, exhibitions and master classes.

The Museum is open for visitors:

Wednesdays and Fridays 12-18
Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays 10-16
It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and on the last Friday of every month.