Scriabin and Roslavets were contemporaries, but their individual lives could not have been more different.  Scriabin was born into an aristocratic Moscow family, had access from a young age to the best formal music training available, completed studies at the Moscow Conservatory at 20, and enjoyed recognition as a brilliant concert pianist and innovative composer during his lifetime and after his untimely death.

Roslavets came from a rural background outside of Russia proper, taught himself to play the violin as a youngster and then obtained enough formal training to enter the Moscow Conservatory at the age of 21, fell into political disfavour along with many modernist artists after the Russian Revolution. Nevertheless, the music of these two composers is connected by a common concept, that being the synthetic chord.