Scriabin wrote his first numbered sonata at the age of 20. Excessive practice at the keyboard left him with an injury and a bad prognosis; he saw it as "the first serious failure in my life" and as the shattering of "the goal so highly desired: fame, glory." In his gloomy state of mind, the First Sonata represented a "grumbling against fate and against God." This is the longest of the composer's sonatas. Written one year before Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, it is an attractive work that shows his command of form and narrative. While the influence of Chopin is strong, hints of a new language are frequent.

The work consists of four movements, all unified by the opening motive F-G-A flat. The first movement, Allegro con fuoco, is in sonata form. It opens with a rising, violent theme. The second subject is more lyrical, and the third subject leads to a climax with widely spaced chords. The recapitulation is followed by a coda that alternates between major and minor modes and finally fades to nothingness. The slow second movement is in ternary form. A 16-bar succession of reflective chords forms the backbone of the first and third section. The central section is slightly less static but possessed of the same introspective spirit. In the third, Presto, non-legato chords in the right hand are accompanied by galloping triplets. The second subject of the first movement is quoted in the central section. Near the ending, a series of repeated chords, accelerating and fortissimo, stops suddenly and the movement fades quietly. The last movement, marked Funèbre, is a funeral march, perhaps referring to the death of Scriabin's own illusions of glory. It bears some resemblance to Chopin's funeral march, likewise including a dreamy central section before the repetition of the main theme.

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