Colour and Musical Pitch
Beethoven
Beethoven is said to have called B minor the black key. Schubert likened E minor "unto a maiden
robed in white with a rose-red bow on her breast." One Russian composer said, "Rimsky-Korsakoff
and many of us in Russia have felt the connection between colours and sonorities. Surely for
everybody sunlight is C major and cold colours are minors. And F-sharp is decidedly strawberry
red!" Of his subtle compositions Debussy wrote: "I realised that music is very delicate, and it takes,
therefore, the soul at its softest fluttering to catch these violet rays of emotion." (Tom Douglas
Jones, The Art of Light & Color, 1972: p. 102)
Scriabin
Scriabin held that each mode corresponded to a particular shade of colour, and each modulation to a
nuance of this shade. (Frank Popper, Origins and Development of Kinetic Art, 1968:p. 157-8)
“Sriabin’s attention was first seriously drawn to his coloured hearing owing to an experience at a
concert in Paris, where sitting next to his fellow countryman and composer Rimsky-Korsakoff, he
remarked that the piece to which they were listening (in D major) seemed to him yellow;
whereupon his neighbour replied that to him, too, the colour seemed golden. Scriabin has since
compared with his compatriot and with other musicians the colour effects of other keys, especially
B, C major, and F-sharp major, and believes a general agreement to exist in this respect.”
“He admits, however, that whereas to him the key of F-sharp major appears violet, to Rimsky-
Korsakoff it appears green; but this derivation he attributed to an accidental association with the
colour of leaves and grass arising from the frequent use of this key for pastoral music. He allows
that there is some disagreement as to the colour effect of the key of G major. Nevertheless, as is so
universally the case with the subjects of synesthesia, he believes that the particular colours which he
obtains must be shared by all endowed with coloured hearing" (from Dr. D.S. Myers, a psychologist
who talked with Scriabin). (Tom Douglas Jones, The Art of Light & Color, 1972)
Scriabin's system of coloured musical keys:
C# - Purple
F# - Bright Blue/Violet
B - Blue
E - Sky Blue
A - Green
D - Yellow
G - Orange
C - Red
F - Deep Red
Bb - Rose/Steel
Eb - Flesh
Ab - Violet
Db - Purple (same as C#)
Gb - Bright Blue/Violet (same as F#)
You can now either purchase the book directly from Simon on this link, or continue reading the SIXTH Episode of the book using this link.
Colour and Musical Pitch
Beethoven
Beethoven is said to have called B minor the black key. Schubert likened E minor "unto a maiden
robed in white with a rose-red bow on her breast." One Russian composer said, "Rimsky-Korsakoff
and many of us in Russia have felt the connection between colours and sonorities. Surely for
everybody sunlight is C major and cold colours are minors. And F-sharp is decidedly strawberry
red!" Of his subtle compositions Debussy wrote: "I realised that music is very delicate, and it takes,
therefore, the soul at its softest fluttering to catch these violet rays of emotion." (Tom Douglas
Jones, The Art of Light & Color, 1972: p. 102)
Scriabin
Scriabin held that each mode corresponded to a particular shade of colour, and each modulation to a
nuance of this shade. (Frank Popper, Origins and Development of Kinetic Art, 1968:p. 157-8)
“Sriabin’s attention was first seriously drawn to his coloured hearing owing to an experience at a
concert in Paris, where sitting next to his fellow countryman and composer Rimsky-Korsakoff, he
remarked that the piece to which they were listening (in D major) seemed to him yellow;
whereupon his neighbour replied that to him, too, the colour seemed golden. Scriabin has since
compared with his compatriot and with other musicians the colour effects of other keys, especially
B, C major, and F-sharp major, and believes a general agreement to exist in this respect.”
“He admits, however, that whereas to him the key of F-sharp major appears violet, to Rimsky-
Korsakoff it appears green; but this derivation he attributed to an accidental association with the
colour of leaves and grass arising from the frequent use of this key for pastoral music. He allows
that there is some disagreement as to the colour effect of the key of G major. Nevertheless, as is so
universally the case with the subjects of synesthesia, he believes that the particular colours which he
obtains must be shared by all endowed with coloured hearing" (from Dr. D.S. Myers, a psychologist
who talked with Scriabin). (Tom Douglas Jones, The Art of Light & Color, 1972)
Scriabin's system of coloured musical keys:
C# - Purple
F# - Bright Blue/Violet
B - Blue
E - Sky Blue
A - Green
D - Yellow
G - Orange
C - Red
F - Deep Red
Bb - Rose/Steel
Eb - Flesh
Ab - Violet
Db - Purple (same as C#)
Gb - Bright Blue/Violet (same as F#)
Colour and Musical Pitch
Beethoven
Beethoven is said to have called B minor the black key. Schubert likened E minor "unto a maiden
robed in white with a rose-red bow on her breast." One Russian composer said, "Rimsky-Korsakoff
and many of us in Russia have felt the connection between colours and sonorities. Surely for
everybody sunlight is C major and cold colours are minors. And F-sharp is decidedly strawberry
red!" Of his subtle compositions Debussy wrote: "I realised that music is very delicate, and it takes,
therefore, the soul at its softest fluttering to catch these violet rays of emotion." (Tom Douglas
Jones, The Art of Light & Color, 1972: p. 102)
Scriabin
Scriabin held that each mode corresponded to a particular shade of colour, and each modulation to a
nuance of this shade. (Frank Popper, Origins and Development of Kinetic Art, 1968:p. 157-8)
“Sriabin’s attention was first seriously drawn to his coloured hearing owing to an experience at a
concert in Paris, where sitting next to his fellow countryman and composer Rimsky-Korsakoff, he
remarked that the piece to which they were listening (in D major) seemed to him yellow;
whereupon his neighbour replied that to him, too, the colour seemed golden. Scriabin has since
compared with his compatriot and with other musicians the colour effects of other keys, especially
B, C major, and F-sharp major, and believes a general agreement to exist in this respect.”
“He admits, however, that whereas to him the key of F-sharp major appears violet, to Rimsky-
Korsakoff it appears green; but this derivation he attributed to an accidental association with the
colour of leaves and grass arising from the frequent use of this key for pastoral music. He allows
that there is some disagreement as to the colour effect of the key of G major. Nevertheless, as is so
universally the case with the subjects of synesthesia, he believes that the particular colours which he
obtains must be shared by all endowed with coloured hearing" (from Dr. D.S. Myers, a psychologist
who talked with Scriabin). (Tom Douglas Jones, The Art of Light & Color, 1972)
Scriabin's system of coloured musical keys:
C# - Purple
F# - Bright Blue/Violet
B - Blue
E - Sky Blue
A - Green
D - Yellow
G - Orange
C - Red
F - Deep Red
Bb - Rose/Steel
Eb - Flesh
Ab - Violet
Db - Purple (same as C#)
Gb - Bright Blue/Violet (same as F#)
