<!--date=20250406 -->


<h1>Prometheus Scale</h1>
<p>The Prometheus scale comes from Alexander Scriabin's 1910 orchestral work <em>Prometheus: The Poem of Fire</em>, where it serves as the harmonic foundation. Scriabin spent his late career building a new harmonic language independent of traditional major/minor tonality, and the Prometheus scale was central to his mature style. Voiced as a stack of intervals, it creates his "mystic chord." The scale has a floating, ambiguous quality that anticipates both impressionism and jazz modal harmony — particularly Lydian dominant.</p>

<h2>Construction</h2>
<pre>
C Prometheus scale:
C  D  E  F#  A  B♭  C

Formula:      1  2  3  #4  6  ♭7
Step pattern: W  W  W  m3  H  A2

Six notes (hexatonic) — the 5th degree is omitted entirely.

Compare to C Lydian dominant (7 notes):
C Lydian dominant: C D E F# G A B♭
C Prometheus:      C D E F#   A B♭
                             ↑ G (5th) is absent
</pre>

<h2>The Mystic Chord</h2>
<p>Scriabin's "mystic chord" stacks the Prometheus scale notes in fourths rather than thirds — the interval used in quartal harmony:</p>
<pre>
Stacked in fourths from C:
C — F# — B♭ — E — A — D

(Read as: C up augmented 4th = F#, up perfect 4th = B♭,
           up major 3rd = E, up perfect 4th = A, up perfect 4th = D)

These six pitches = C D E F# A B♭ = the C Prometheus scale.

Voiced on piano (left hand to right):
  C — F# — B♭ — E — A — D
  Creates a dense, shimmering cluster of superimposed intervals.
  Not a conventional chord, not a conventional scale — Scriabin's own language.
</pre>

<h2>Relation to Lydian Dominant</h2>
<pre>
C Lydian dominant: C D E F# G A B♭   (all 7 notes)
C Prometheus:      C D E F#   A B♭   (5th = G is absent)

The Prometheus scale is Lydian dominant without the 5th.
The absence of G:
  - Removes the anchoring perfect fifth above the root
  - Makes the scale harmonically floating — no grounding interval
  - Allows both G♭ (enharmonic F#) and G to be implied

This floating quality is Scriabin's goal: a chord/scale that doesn't
resolve in any conventional way, existing in harmonic suspension.
</pre>

<h2>Sound and Character</h2>
<p>Floating, luminous, harmonically ambiguous. The #4 (F#) creates the Lydian lift; the ♭7 (B♭) creates the dominant quality; the absent 5th removes the harmonic anchor. The scale neither resolves like a dominant nor rests like a tonic. Scriabin described it in terms of colours and light — he had synesthesia and associated each harmony with a colour. C Prometheus was associated with red.</p>

<h2>Jazz Connections</h2>
<p>The Prometheus scale anticipates several jazz developments:</p>

<table>
  <thead><tr><th>Jazz concept</th><th>Connection to Prometheus</th></tr></thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td>Lydian dominant (Levine)</td><td>Prometheus is Lydian dominant minus the 5th</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Quartal harmony (McCoy Tyner)</td><td>The mystic chord stacks fourths — same interval as quartal voicings</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Modal jazz (Miles Davis)</td><td>Both suspend resolution by avoiding strong V-I progressions</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Impressionism (Bill Evans)</td><td>Evans cited Scriabin and Debussy as influences; floating dominant sound is shared</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

<h2>In Practice</h2>
<p>The Prometheus scale is not a common improvisation vehicle, but it has application over unresolved dominant seventh chords with a #11 sound — particularly when you want an even more open, less grounded quality than Lydian dominant. Over a C7#11 chord (or D♭7 as a tritone sub), playing C Prometheus gives every note a clean chord tone or coloured extension status, while the absent 5th keeps the sound floating. Try it over a vamp on C9#11 and listen for the impressionistic, Scriabin-like quality.</p>

<h2>References</h2>
<ul>
  <li>Baker — <em>The Prometheus Chord</em> (analysis of Scriabin's harmonic language)</li>
  <li>Levine — <em>The Jazz Theory Book</em></li>
  <li><a href="https://www.musictheory.net" target="_blank" rel="noopener">musictheory.net ↗</a></li>
</ul>
