Alexander Scriabin composed sets of Etudes throughout his life in all periods of his compositional development. The Op. 8 set was completed in 1894 and an insight into their emotional content can be found in a poem Scriabin wrote alongside the set: Whoever you may be, you who laughed at me, who plunged me into dark depths . . . I am alive. I love life. I love people. I love them all the more because through you they have suffered. ... This edition of the Etudes has been prepared by Gunter Philipp. It contains an authoratitive text of the notation, preface in German and English, and a critical commentary.