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quently seized by pretenders to the throne of
Khan. Tamerlane's armies reached the city in
1395 and destroyed it. The first substantial
archaeological excavations were carried out in
1843-51 by A. V. Tereschchenko, followed by two
major excavations in Soviet times (1922 and
1959-67). They confirmed Ibn Battuta's account,
revealing a city with substantial palaces, mosques,
and other prominent buildings. Today the village
of Selitrennoe stands on the site of Old Sarai,
while the village of Tsarev in the Volgograd
Oblast stands on the site of New Sarai.
versal mystical chord. With him as a messiah, he
envisioned a “liturgical act” designed to reach a
supreme final ecstasy through poetry, dance, col-
ors, music, and even scents that would bring spir-
itual regeneration to Russia and put humanity on
a higher spiritual plane. Scriabin succeeded in
sketching only preparatory exercises for the final
“Mystery” before his death in Moscow in April
1915. In addition to his mystical beliefs, he is
known for ten piano sonatas composed between
1892 and 1913, three symphonies, a piano con-
certo, and 24 preludes for piano, many of which
are still widely played.
Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolaevich
(1872-1915)
composer
A relative of the revolutionary and Soviet official
known as
MOLOTOV
, Scriabin was one of the few
Russian composers who tried to incorporate the
mystical themes that dominated Russian litera-
ture in the early 20th century. Scriabin was born
in Moscow and entered the Moscow Conserva-
tory in 1888. In 1897 he married Vera Isakovich,
a fellow pianist. The following year he began
teaching at the Moscow Conservatory, where he
remained until 1903, after which he dedicated
himself to composing and piano tours. Scriabin
began his career as a composer-pianist, highly
influenced by Chopin and Liszt, but in the early
1900s he developed an idiosyncratic, increas-
ingly complex style that sought to incorporate
his growing interest in mystical philosophy. His
First Symphony was conceived to glorify art as
religion. His 1907 orchestral piece
Poem of Ecstasy
was full of complex harmonies and unpre-
dictable developments. For his orchestral tone
poem,
Prometheus, The Poem of Fire
(1910) he
tried to link tone and color by designing a color
keyboard that would project on a screen the col-
ors that he believed corresponded to musical
tones. The keyboard was not built, so for the
performance of
Prometheus
Scriabin had to resort
to projecting color slides on a screen. Scriabin's
later work became more eccentric as he aban-
doned traditional harmony in search of a uni-
Semenov, Grigorii Mikhailovich
(1890-1946)
Cossack commander
One of three prominent Cossack warlords who
carried the traditional title of ataman, Semenov
ruled large stretches of the Transbaikal area dur-
ing the Russian civil war. Semenov was born in
Siberia, near the town of Chita in the area east of
Lake Baikal. He graduated from the Orenburg
Military School in 1911 and fought during World
War I. In July 1917, he was appointed commissar
of the Provisional Government in Siberia to form
a unit that would be dispatched to the western
front of World War I. Instead he formed a Special
Manchurian Detachment that served as the base
for his private army in the following years. From
October to December 1917, he organized a revolt
against the Bolshevik government. In August
1918 in alliance with the
CZECH LEGION
, Semenov
set up a military government in Siberia known as
the Provisional Siberian Government. Conflicts
arose with Admiral
KOLCHAK
, appointed supreme
ruler of Siberia in November 1918, who at first
did not recognize Semenov's authority but later
appointed him commander of Chita military dis-
trict. Tensions and rivalries between the two con-
tinued and Semenov's insistence on protecting
his autonomy by disrupting supplies intended for
Kolchak in western Siberia caused significant
harm to the overall White effort. With Japanese
support, Semenov proclaimed himself ataman of
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