Alexander Scriabin composed sets of tudes 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 tudes has been prepared by Gnter Philipp. It contains an authorative text of the notation, preface in German and English, and a critical commentary.