PSEUDOSYNAESTHESIA IN MUSIC
Olivier Messaien
Olivier Messaien, a composer, describes himself as having color- sound synaesthesia. He talks about experiencing the "gentle cascade of blue-orange chords" while listening to Quator pour la fin du temps. He later talked of seeing "colours which move with the music" and sensing these colors "in an extremely vivid manner."
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Scriabin
Aleksandr Scriabin (1872-1915), a Russian composer, worked to incorporate his own synaesthesia into his concerts. In 1911 he wrote a symphony entitled Prometheus, the Poem of Fire. This symphony was to incorporate the usual orchestra, piano, organ, and choir. However, this score also included orchestrations for a "clavier a lumieres", or color organ, which would play colored light during the symphony. The light would be in the shape of clouds, beams, and other shapes which would "flood" the concert hall. The climax would include a white light so strong as to be "painful to the eyes." The first performance of Prometheus took place on March 29, 1915, in Carnegie Hall.
It has also been reported that Scriabin planned to write another piece, Mystery, which would add scents to the colors and music of his previous works. However, he died before he could accomplish this.
For more information on Scriabin as a composer, and more details of his color organ and the first performance on it, see Lawrence Gerstley's Scriabin Page.