The Theremin

The theremin is an example of one of the strangest musical instruments, representing the shift from acoustic instruments to instruments using a current of electricity to produce a sound. The theremin is an extraordinary instrument, perhaps little known, yet it shows up in a number of movie sound tracks, songs recorded by numerous famous groups, and other places as well.

Basically, the theremin is a circuit board that creates an electromagnetic field around itself. Disturbances with that field are transformed to an signal, which goes into an amplifier and out of a speaker.

Read about its history and check out some examples. I guarantee you have heard this instrument before. However, you may not have known it was a theremin.

Leon Theremin

Many years ago a young Russian scientist named Leon Theremin lifted his hands in the air and created a sound so unique it heralded the advent of twentieth century music. His genius reverberated though seven decades and the technology he developed retains a prestigious, permanent home in every phase of music technology. This amazing professor’s discoveries sent octaves of shock waves throughout his personal and professional life, and the lasting legacy of electronics in music is a tribute to his endless dedication and exploration.

The Birth of Electronic Music

Leon Theremin was born in 1896 in St. Petersburg as Lev Sergeivitch Termen. He studied Physics and Astronomy at the University of St. Petersburg and the Petrograd Physico-Technical Institute.

In 1922 he demonstrated for Lenin the Aetherphone, an early model of the Thereminvox (later shortened to Theremin). During this period Lenin was certain that electronics would play a necessary role in the development of Communism in Russia.

The 30s

All during the 1930s Theremin probed and created in his laboratory as electronics quickly grew to define modern America. His voracious ingenuity found outlets in surprising areas: he even invented an early model burglar alarm.

Always he strove to improve his instruments, and he was determined to establish for the theremin a leading place in both scientific and musical spheres. He was interested in the role of the theremin in dance, and while working with the American Negro Ballet the young inventor fell in love with prima ballerina Lavinia Williams. His eventual marriage to the black dancer caused shock and disapproval in his social circle. The couple was ostracized by many friends and associates but remained together until Theremin vanished in 1938.

The Theremin Comes to America

Theremin developed his most popular instrument during the eclectic and culturally provocative Jazz Age. In the 1920s radio was not yet a common presence in the American home, yet the prodigious young professor was exploring technologies that would set the basis for an explosion of electronic development during the twentieth century. A short time after his arrival in America in 1927 he demonstrated the theremin for the first time in his new country. An audience of eminent musicians, scientists, and social dignitaries listened to the instrument's ethereal voice with awe and excitement, clearly realizing they were hearing the future in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel.

Soon the young scientist licensed the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) to manufacture his electronic namesake. Starting in 1929, RCA built a total of 500 theremins.

Deceptively simple in appearance (a wooden box on tall legs adorned with two nickel-plated antennas), the theremin was an instrument different from any ever made, or played: it was not touched by the mouth nor strummed by the fingers; its sound came from movements made in the air around it. Playing the theremin required moving both hands around the two antennas. By controlling the pitch with the right hand and the volume with the left hand, it was possible to lure from the theremin a wide variety of expressive musical sounds, everything from the classic strains of the cello and violin to humanlike murmurs and shrieks.

Because the sound of the theremin was dependent on fluid hand motions in air, wide gestures around the instrument created an eerie, ethereal melody. This quavering wail became a frequent component of the soundtracks of horror movies in the 1950s and 1960s.

In the 1930s Leon Theremin set up a laboratory in New York. There he further developed the theremin and experimented with other electronic musical instruments. In 1930 he demonstrated ten theremins on the concert stage at Carnegie Hall, and in 1932 he conducted the first-ever electronic orchestra there, featuring the theremin and the Rhythmicon and the Fingerboard (cello) Theremin. Theremin’s associates during this time were society’s foremost scientists, composers, and musical theorists, including composer Joseph Schillinger and famous physicist (and classical violinist) Albert Einstein.

Theremin in Russia

Theremin’s mysterious disappearance sent tremors of disbelief through New York’s intellectual circles. Rumors abounded as to whether his departure was voluntary or forced; his wife was certain the latter was true, and many years later it became known that Theremin had been seized by Soviet KGB agents and made to return to his native land.

Theremin was imprisoned for years for apparently political reasons. He was reported dead in one German newspaper; a Russian article on electronic music that came out in the early 1950s did not even mention his name

After his release from prison Theremin developed military and espionage devices for the KGB. Eventually he went to work at the Moscow Conservatory of Music, where he built theremins and taught music for ten years.

One day in 1967 a visiting correspondent from the New York Times saw him there. Amazed at discovering the professor’s whereabouts after so many years, the reporter wrote a long article about Theremin’s recent innovations. This was the first information about Theremin to reach the West since he disappeared in 1938.

Listen to Leon Theremin playing his own invention. Note that the right hand controls the pitch and the left controls volume.

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