Mystic chord
six-note synthetic chord that appears in compositions by Alexander Scriabin
In music, the mystic chord or Prometheus chord is a six-note synthetic chord and its associated scale, or pitch collection, that loosely serves as the harmonic and melodic basis for some of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin's later pieces. Scriabin did not use the chord directly but rather derived material from its transpositions.
When rooted in C, the mystic chord consists of the pitch classes C, F♯, B♭, E, A, and D.
This is often interpreted as a quartal hexachord consisting of an augmented fourth, diminished fourth, augmented fourth, and two perfect fourths. The chord is related to other pitch collections. For example, it is a hexatonic subset of the overtone scale, also known in jazz circles as the Lydian dominant scale, lacking the perfect fifth.
Nomenclature
The term "mystic chord" appears to derive from Alexander Scriabin's intense interest in Theosophy, and the chord is imagined to reflect this mysticism. It was coined by Arthur Eaglefield Hull in 1916.
It is also known as the "Prometheus chord", after its extensive use in Scriabin's Prometheus: The Poem of Fire. The term was employed by Leonid Sabaneyev.
Igor Bèlza suggested the name "chord of the pleroma", which was wrongly attributed to Scriabin by Richard Taruskin.
“Mystic chord” enters the record as six-note synthetic chord that appears in compositions by Alexander Scriabin. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Mystic, chord and six-note can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Mystic chord” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Mystic, chord and six-note provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1956958. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1916.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Mystic chord”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Mystic chord primary sources, Mystic chord archive and Mystic research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mystic chord”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Mystic chord” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.