The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an
electronic musical instrument
An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into ...
controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named after its inventor,
Leon Theremin
Leon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen rus, Лев Сергеевич Термéн, p=ˈlʲef sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ tɨrˈmʲen; – 3 November 1993) was a Russian and USSR, Soviet inventor, most famous for his invention of the theremin, ...
, who patented the device in 1928.
The instrument's controlling section usually consists of two metal
antennas
In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies a ...
which sense the relative position of the thereminist's hands and control
oscillators
Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...
for
frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...
with one hand, and
amplitude
The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of amplit ...
(
volume
Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The de ...
) with the other. The electric
signal
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
s from the theremin are
amplified and sent to a
loudspeaker
A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or " ...
.
The sound of the instrument is often associated with
eerie
''Eerie'' was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like '' Mad'', it was a black-and-white magazine intended for newsstand distribution and did not submit its stories to the comic book industry's voluntar ...
situations. The theremin has been used in movie
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
s such as
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...
's ''
Spellbound'' and ''
The Lost Weekend'',
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...
's ''
The Day the Earth Stood Still
''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (a.k.a. ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'') is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Renn ...
'', and
Justin Hurwitz
Justin Gabriel Hurwitz (born January 22, 1985) is an American film composer and a television writer. He is best known for his longtime collaboration with director Damien Chazelle, scoring each of his films: ''Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench'' (2 ...
's ''
First Man'' as well as in
theme songs
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at som ...
for
television show
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
s such as the ITV drama ''
Midsomer Murders
''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of I ...
'' and the
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
series
''Loki'', the latter composed by
Natalie Holt
Natalie Ann Holt is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. She is primarily recognised for her work on several notable productions, including ''Paddington (film), Paddington'' (2014) and ''Loki (TV series), L ...
. The theremin is also used in concert music (especially
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
and 20th- and 21st-century
new music New music may refer to:
Musical styles and movements
Pre-20th century
* Ars nova, musical style in 14th-century France and the Low Countries
* '' Le nuove musiche'', collection of monody by Giulio Caccini
* New German School, music style in late 1 ...
) and in popular music genres such as
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
.
History
The theremin was the product of Soviet government-sponsored research into
proximity sensor
A proximity sensor is a sensor able to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact.
A proximity sensor often emits an electromagnetic field or a beam of electromagnetic radiation (infrared, for instance), and looks for ...
s. The instrument was invented in October 1919 by the Russian physicist Lev Sergeyevich Termen, known in the West as
Leon Theremin
Leon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen rus, Лев Сергеевич Термéн, p=ˈlʲef sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ tɨrˈmʲen; – 3 November 1993) was a Russian and USSR, Soviet inventor, most famous for his invention of the theremin, ...
.
After a lengthy tour of Europe, during which time he demonstrated his invention to packed houses, Theremin moved to the United States, where he patented his invention in 1928.
Subsequently, Theremin granted commercial production rights to
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
.
Although the RCA Thereminvox (released immediately following the
Stock Market Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
) was not a commercial success, it fascinated audiences in America and abroad.
Clara Rockmore
Clara Reisenberg Rockmore (9 March 1911 – 10 May 1998) was a Lithuanian classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument. She was the sister of pianist Nadia Reisenberg.
Life and career Early ...
, a well-known thereminist, toured to wide acclaim, performing a classical repertoire in concert halls around the United States, often sharing the bill with
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...
.
During the 1930s,
Lucie Bigelow Rosen
Lucie Bigelow Rosen (June 28, 1890 – November 27, 1968) was an American Theremin soloist known for popularizing the use of the instrument in the 1930s and 1940s, and a founder, along with her husband, Walter Tower Rosen, of the Caramoor festiv ...
was also taken with the theremin and together with her husband Walter Bigelow Rosen provided both financial and artistic support to the development and popularisation of the instrument.
In 1938, Theremin left the United States, though the circumstances related to his departure are in dispute. Many accounts claim he was taken from his
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
apartment by
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
agents (preceding the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
), taken back to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and made to work in a ''
sharashka
A Special Design Bureau (, ''osoboje konstruktorskoe bûro''; ОКБ), commonly informally known as a ''sharashka'' (russian: шара́шка, ; sometimes ''sharaga'', ''sharazhka'') was any of several secret research and development laboratories ...
'' laboratory prison camp at Magadan, Siberia. He reappeared 30 years later. In his 2000 biography of the inventor, ''Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage'',
Albert Glinsky
Albert Glinsky (born December 9, 1952) is an American composer and author. His music has been performed internationally by soloists, ensembles, and dance companies. His book, ''Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage'' won the 2001 ASCAP Deems Tayl ...
suggested he had fled to escape crushing personal debts, and was then caught up in Stalin's political purges. In any case, Theremin did not return to the United States until 1991.
![Moog Theremin Bausatz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Moog_Theremin_Bausatz.jpg)
After a flurry of interest in America following the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the theremin soon fell into disuse with serious musicians, mainly because newer electronic instruments were introduced that were easier to play. However, a niche interest in the theremin persisted, mostly among electronics enthusiasts and kit-building hobbyists. One of these electronics enthusiasts,
Robert Moog
Robert Arthur Moog ( ; May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesi ...
, began building theremins in the 1950s, while he was a high-school student. Moog subsequently published a number of articles about building theremins, and sold theremin kits that were intended to be assembled by the customer. Moog credited what he learned from the experience as leading directly to his groundbreaking
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
, the
Moog. (Around 1955, a colleague of Moog's, electronic music pioneer
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow; September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994) was an American composer, band leader, pianist, record producer, and inventor of electronic instruments.
Though Scott never scored cartoon soundtracks, his music is ...
, purchased one of Moog's theremin subassemblies to incorporate into a new invention, the
Clavivox
The Clavivox was a keyboard sound synthesizer and sequencer developed by American composer Raymond Scott beginning in 1952. He applied for a patent in December 1956 and was granted on Feb. 3, 1959.
Scott had earlier built a theremin as a toy fo ...
, which was intended to be an easy-to-use keyboard theremin.)
Since the release of the film ''
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey'' in 1993, the instrument has enjoyed a resurgence in interest and has become more widely used by contemporary musicians. Even though many theremin sounds can be approximated on many modern synthesizers, some musicians continue to appreciate the expressiveness, novelty, and uniqueness of using an actual theremin. The film itself has received positive reviews.
Both theremin instruments and kits are available. The Open Theremin, an
open hardware
Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifact (software development), artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this ope ...
and
open software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...
project, was developed by Swiss microengineer Urz Gaudenz, using the original
heterodyne
A heterodyne is a signal frequency that is created by combining or mixing two other frequencies using a signal processing technique called ''heterodyning'', which was invented by Canadian inventor-engineer Reginald Fessenden. Heterodyning is us ...
oscillator architecture for a good playing experience, combined with
Arduino
Arduino () is an open-source hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardware products are licensed unde ...
. Using a few extra components, a
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
interface can be added to the Open Theremin, enabling a player to use their Theremin to control different instrument sounds.
Some inexpensive theremins may only have a pitch control and may be harder to play accurately because of a relatively non-linear relationship between the distance of the hand and resultant pitch, as well as a relatively short span of hand-to-antenna distance for producing the available range of pitch.
Operating principles
![Block diagram Theremin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Block_diagram_Theremin.svg)
The theremin is distinguished among musical instruments in that it is played without physical contact. The thereminist stands in front of the instrument and moves their hands in the proximity of two metal antennas. The distance from one antenna determines frequency (pitch), and the distance from the other controls amplitude (volume). Higher notes are played by moving the hand closer to the pitch antenna. Louder notes are played by moving the hand away from the volume antenna.
Most frequently, the right hand controls the pitch and the left controls the volume, although some performers reverse this arrangement. Some low-cost theremins use a conventional, knob operated volume control and have only the pitch antenna. While commonly called antennas, they are not used for receiving or broadcasting radio waves, but act as plates of
capacitor
A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.
The effect of ...
s.
The theremin uses the
heterodyne
A heterodyne is a signal frequency that is created by combining or mixing two other frequencies using a signal processing technique called ''heterodyning'', which was invented by Canadian inventor-engineer Reginald Fessenden. Heterodyning is us ...
principle to generate an audio signal. The instrument's pitch circuitry includes two
radio frequency
Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the upp ...
oscillator
Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...
s set below 500
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...
to minimize radio interference. One oscillator operates at a fixed frequency. The frequency of the other oscillator is almost identical, and is controlled by the performer's distance from the pitch control antenna.
The performer's hand acts as the
grounded plate (the performer's body being the connection to ground) of a
variable capacitor
A variable capacitor is a capacitor whose capacitance may be intentionally and repeatedly changed mechanically or electronically. Variable capacitors are often used in L/C circuits to set the resonance frequency, e.g. to tune a radio (therefo ...
in an
L-C (inductance-capacitance) circuit, which is part of the oscillator and determines its frequency. In the simplest designs, the antenna is directly coupled to the tuned circuit of the oscillator and the 'pitch field', that is the change of note with distance, is highly nonlinear, as the capacitance change with distance is far greater near the antenna. In such systems, when the antenna is removed, the oscillator moves up in frequency.
To partly linearise the pitch field, the antenna may be wired in series with an inductor to form a series
tuned circuit
An LC circuit, also called a resonant circuit, tank circuit, or tuned circuit, is an electric circuit consisting of an inductor, represented by the letter L, and a capacitor, represented by the letter C, connected together. The circuit can ac ...
, resonating with the parallel combination of the antenna's intrinsic capacitance and the capacitance of the player's hand in proximity to the antenna. This series tuned circuit is then connected in parallel with the parallel tuned circuit of the variable pitch oscillator. With the antenna circuit disconnected, the oscillator is tuned to a frequency slightly higher than the stand alone resonant frequency of the antenna circuit. At that frequency, the antenna and its linearisation coil present an inductive impedance; and when connected, behaves as an inductor in parallel with the oscillator. Thus, connecting the antenna and linearising coil raises the oscillation frequency. Close to the resonant frequency of the antenna circuit, the effective inductance is small, and the effect on the oscillator is greatest; farther from it, the effective inductance is larger, and fractional change on the oscillator is reduced.
When the hand is distant from the antenna, the resonant frequency of the antenna series circuit is at its highest; i.e., it is closest to the free running frequency of the oscillator, and small changes in antenna capacitance have greatest effect. Under this condition, the effective inductance in the tank circuit is at its minimum and the oscillation frequency is at its maximum. The steepening rate of change of shunt impedance with hand position compensates for the reduced influence of the hand being further away. With careful tuning, a near linear region of pitch field can be created over the central 2 or 3 octaves of operation. Using optimized pitch field linearisation, circuits can be made where a change in
capacitance
Capacitance is the capability of a material object or device to store electric charge. It is measured by the change in charge in response to a difference in electric potential, expressed as the ratio of those quantities. Commonly recognized are ...
between the performer and the instrument in the order of 0.01
picofarads produces a full octave of frequency shift.
The mixer produces the audio-range difference between the frequencies of the two oscillators at each moment, which is the tone that is then wave shaped and amplified and sent to a loudspeaker.
To control volume, the performer's other hand acts as the grounded plate of another variable capacitor. As in the tone circuit, the distance between the performer's hand and the volume control antenna determines the capacitance and hence natural resonant frequency of an LC circuit inductively coupled to another fixed LC oscillator circuit operating at a slightly higher resonant frequency. When a hand approaches the antenna, the natural frequency of that circuit is lowered by the extra capacitance, which detunes the oscillator and lowers its resonant plate current.
In the earliest theremins, the RF plate current of the oscillator is picked up by another winding and used to power the filament of another diode-connected triode, which thus acts as a variable conductance element changing the output amplitude. The harmonic timbre of the output, not being a pure tone, was an important feature of the theremin. Theremin's original design included audio frequency series/parallel LC formant filters as well as a 3-winding variable-saturation transformer to control or induce harmonics in the audio output.
Modern circuit designs often simplify this circuit and avoid the complexity of two heterodyne oscillators by having a single pitch oscillator, akin to the original theremin's volume circuit. This approach is usually less stable and cannot generate the low frequencies that a heterodyne oscillator can. Better designs (e.g., Moog, Theremax) may use two pairs of heterodyne oscillators, for both pitch and volume.
Performance technique
![Robotic Theremin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Robotic_Theremin.jpg)
Important in theremin articulation is the use of the volume control antenna. Unlike touched instruments, where simply halting play or damping a resonator in the traditional sense silences the instrument, the thereminist must "play the rests, as well as the notes", as
Clara Rockmore
Clara Reisenberg Rockmore (9 March 1911 – 10 May 1998) was a Lithuanian classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument. She was the sister of pianist Nadia Reisenberg.
Life and career Early ...
observed.
If the pitch hand is moved between notes, without first lowering the volume hand, the result is a "swooping" sound akin to a
swanee whistle
A slide whistle (variously known as a swanee or swannee whistle, lotos flute piston flute, or jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. Thus it has an air reed like some woodwinds ...
or a glissando played on the
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
. Small flutters of the pitch hand can be used to produce a vibrato effect. To produce distinct notes requires a pecking action with the volume hand to mute the volume while the pitch hand moves between positions.
Thereminists such as
Carolina Eyck
Carolina Eyck (born 26 December 1987) is a German- Sorb musician specialising in playing the Theremin, an electronic instrument. Her performances around the world have helped to promote the unusual musical instrument.
Biography
German-born music ...
use a fixed arm position per octave, and use fixed positions of the fingers to create the notes within the octave, allowing very fast transitions between adjacent notes.
Although volume technique is less developed than pitch technique, some thereminists have worked to extend it, especially
Pamelia Kurstin
Pamelia Stickney (formerly known as Pamelia Kurstin) is an American theremin player. She has performed and recorded with many artists including David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, David Garland, Seb Rochford, Otto Lechner and ...
with her "
walking bass
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
" technique and Rupert Chappelle.
Recent versions of the theremin have been functionally updated: the Moog Ethervox, while functionally still a theremin, can also be used as a
MIDI controller
A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...
, and as such allows the artist to control any MIDI-compatible synthesizer with it, using the theremin's continuous pitch to drive modern synths. The Harrison Instruments Model 302 Theremin uses symmetrical horizontal plates instead of a vertical rod and horizontal loop to control pitch and volume, with the volume increasing as the hand approaches the plate. Music From The Ether manufactures a modernized vacuum tube replica of the RCA AR-1264 and a transistorized theremin which the customer may customize with a desired wood species, as well as many available tolex colors with matching knobs.
The critic
Harold C. Schonberg
Harold Charles Schonberg (29 November 1915 – 26 July 2003) was an American music critic and author. He is best known for his contributions in ''The New York Times'', where he was List of chief music critics, chief music critic from 1960 to 198 ...
described the sound of the theremin as "(a) cello lost in a dense fog, crying because it does not know how to get home."
Uses
![Theremin in Musical Instrument Museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Theremin_in_Musical_Instrument_Museum.jpg)
Concert music
The first orchestral composition written for theremin was
Andrei Pashchenko
Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй , Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include:
*Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman
*And ...
's ''Symphonic Mystery'', which premiered in 1924. However, most of the sheet music was lost after its second performance.
Other concert composers who have written for theremin include
Bohuslav Martinů
Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He bec ...
,
Percy Grainger
Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...
,
Christian Wolff,
Joseph Schillinger
Joseph Moiseyevich Schillinger (Russian: Иосиф Моисеевич Шиллингер, (other sources: ) – 23 March 1943) was a composer, music theorist, and composition teacher who originated the Schillinger System of Musical Composition ...
,
Moritz Eggert
Moritz Eggert (born 25 November 1965 in Heidelberg) is a German composer and pianist.
Life
Moritz Eggert began his studies in piano and composition in 1975 at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt (with Wolfgang Wagenhaeuser and Claus Küh ...
,
Iraida Yusupova
Iraida Yusupova (born February 20, 1962) is a Turkmenistani composer of half Russian half Tatar ethnicity who lives in Moscow, Russia.
Iraida Yusupova was born in Ashgabat, Turkmen SSR, and graduated from Moscow Conservatory with a degree in compo ...
,
Jorge Antunes,
Vladimir Komarov,
Anis Fuleihan
Anis Fuleihan (April 2, 1900 - October 11, 1970) was a Cypriot-born American composer, conductor and pianist.
A native of Kyrenia, Fuleihan belonged to a Christian Lebanese family; he attended the English School in that town before coming to the ...
,
and
Fazıl Say
Fazıl Say (; born 14 January 1970 in Ankara) is a Turkish pianist and composer.
Life and career
Fazıl Say was born in 1970. His father, Ahmet Say was an author and musicologist. His mother, Gürgün Say was a pharmacist. His grandfather Fa ...
. Another large-scale theremin concerto is
Kalevi Aho
Kalevi Ensio Aho (born 9 March 1949) is a Finnish composer.
Early years
Aho began his interest in music at the age of ten, when he discovered a mandolin in his home and began to teach himself how to play it. He soon was taken under the tutelag ...
's Concerto for Theremin and Chamber Orchestra "Eight Seasons" (2011), written for
Carolina Eyck
Carolina Eyck (born 26 December 1987) is a German- Sorb musician specialising in playing the Theremin, an electronic instrument. Her performances around the world have helped to promote the unusual musical instrument.
Biography
German-born music ...
.
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coined ...
completed the composition ‘’Equatorial’’ for two Theremin Cellos and percussion in 1934. His work was a stated influence throughout the career of
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...
, who also composed for theremin.
Maverick composer Percy Grainger chose to use ensembles of four or six theremins (in preference to a string quartet) for his two earliest experimental ''Free Music'' compositions (1935–37) because of the instrument's complete 'gliding' freedom of pitch.
Musician
Jean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanie ...
used the instrument in his concerts
Oxygen In Moscow and
Space of Freedom
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
in
Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
, providing also a short history of Léon Theremin's life.
The five-piece
Spaghetti Western Orchestra use a Theremin as a replacement for Edda Dell'Orso's vocals in their interpretation of
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...
's "Once Upon a Time in the West".
Other notable contemporary Theremin players include
Pamelia Kurstin
Pamelia Stickney (formerly known as Pamelia Kurstin) is an American theremin player. She has performed and recorded with many artists including David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, David Garland, Seb Rochford, Otto Lechner and ...
,
Peter Theremin
Peter Theremin is a Russian composer, performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument.
Life and career
Thereminist, the organizer of the festival of theremin culture "Thereminology", creator of the first Russian-language portal abo ...
,
Natasha Theremin
Natalia Lvovna Termen (; born 24 June 1948), better known as Natasha Theremin, is a Russian musician.
Early life
She is the daughter of Russian scientist, musician and inventor Léon Theremin and Maria Feodorovna Theremin (Gushchina). Her fat ...
,
Katica Illényi
Katica Illényi () is a Hungarian violinist, singer, dancer and theremin player. She has classical training, and plays in several musical genres including folk music, klezmer and Manouche jazz.
Illényi comes from a musical family. She was r ...
.
and
Lydia Kavina
Lydia Evgenevna Kavina (; born 8 September 1967) is a Russian-British theremin player, based in Oxfordshire, UK.
The granddaughter of Léon Theremin's first cousin, Soviet anthropologist and primatologisMikhail Nesturkh Kavina was born in Mosco ...
,
Dutch classical musician
Thorwald Jørgensen
Thorwald Jørgensen (born 1980) is a Dutch classical musician who specialises in the theremin, an electronic musical instrument.
Biography
Jørgensen was born in Zaltbommel. He took up playing percussion instruments at age 14 and began playing ...
has been described as "one of the most important exponents of classical music on the theremin".
In 2019 a group of 289 theremin players (Matryomin ensemble) (including daughter, granddaughter and great-grandson Lev Theremin - Natasha Theremin, Masha Theremin and Peter Theremin) in Kobu, Japan, achieved a
Guinness world record
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as the largest theremin ensemble. The name ''Matryomin'' is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[matryoshka
Matryoshka dolls ( ; rus, матрёшка, p=mɐˈtrʲɵʂkə, a=Ru-матрёшка.ogg), also known as stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside ano ...](_blank)
'' and ''theremin''.. The theremin concerto "Dancefloor With Pulsing" by the French composer
Regis Campo
Regis or Régis may refer to:
People
* Regis (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Regis (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Regis (musician), full name Karl O'Connor, an English ...
was written for
Carolina Eyck
Carolina Eyck (born 26 December 1987) is a German- Sorb musician specialising in playing the Theremin, an electronic instrument. Her performances around the world have helped to promote the unusual musical instrument.
Biography
German-born music ...
and premiered with the Brussels Philharmonic in 2018.
Popular music
Theremins and theremin-like sounds started to be incorporated into
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
from the end of the 1940s (with a series of
Samuel Hoffman
Samuel J. Hoffman (July 23, 1903 in New York City – December 6, 1967 in Los Angeles) was a notable thereminist.
At age 14, began playing the violin professionally in New York City. Under the stage name Hal Hope, he led nightclub and society ...
/
Harry Revel
Harry Revel ( Glaser; 21 December 1905 – 3 November 1958) was a British-born American composer, mostly of musical theatre, working with various lyricists, notably Mack Gordon. He is also seen as a pioneer of "space age pop".
Early life and car ...
collaborations) and has continued, with various degrees of popularity, to the present.
Lothar and the Hand People
Lothar and the Hand People were a late-1960s American psychedelic rock band, known for their spacey music and pioneering use of the theremin and Moog modular synthesizer.
The band's unusual appellation refers to a theremin nicknamed "Lothar", wit ...
were the first rock band known to perform live with a theremin in November 1965. In fact, Lothar was the name they gave to their
Moog theremin.
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
' 1966 single "
Good Vibrations
"Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. It was released as a single on October 10, 1966 and was an immediate critical and commercial hit, topping record c ...
"—though it does not technically contain a theremin—is the most frequently cited example of the instrument in pop music. The song actually features a similar-sounding instrument invented by
Paul Tanner
Paul Tanner (October 15, 1917 – February 5, 2013) was an American musician and a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He developed and played the Electro-Theremin, a theremin soundalike instrument that is best known for its use on the B ...
called an
Electro-Theremin
The Electro-Theremin is an electronic musical instrument developed by trombonist Paul Tanner and amateur inventor Bob Whitsell in the late 1950s to produce a sound to mimic that of the theremin. The instrument features a tone and portamento ...
. Upon release, the single prompted an unexpected revival in theremins and increased the awareness of
analog synthesizer
An analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically.
The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of ...
s. In response to requests by the band,
Moog Music
Moog Music Inc. () is an American synthesizer company based in Asheville, North Carolina. It was founded in 1953 as R. A. Moog Co. by Robert Moog and his father and was renamed Moog Music in 1972. Its early instruments included the Moog synthesi ...
began producing their own brand of
ribbon-controlled instruments which would mimic the sound of a theremin.
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...
also included the theremin on the albums
Freak Out!
''Freak Out!'' is the debut studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on June 27, 1966, by Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, it is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa ...
(1966) and
We're Only In It for The Money
''We're Only in It for the Money'' is the third studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on March 4, 1968, by Verve Records. As with the band's first two efforts, it is a concept album, and satirizes left- and righ ...
(1967)
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
of
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
used a variation of the theremin (pitch antenna only) during performances of "
Whole Lotta Love
"Whole Lotta Love" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the opening track on the band's second album, ''Led Zeppelin II'', and was released as a single in 1969 in several countries; as with other Led Zeppelin songs, no single was r ...
" and "
No Quarter
The phrase no quarter was generally used during military conflict to imply combatants would not be taken prisoner, but killed.
According to some modern American dictionaries, a person who is given no quarter is "not treated kindly" or "treated ...
" throughout the performance history of Led Zeppelin, an extended multi-instrumental solo featuring theremin and bowed guitar in 1977, as well as the soundtrack for ''
Death Wish II
''Death Wish II'' is a 1982 American vigilante action film directed and co-edited by Michael Winner. It is the first of four sequels to the 1974 film ''Death Wish''. It is the second installment in the ''Death Wish'' film series. In the story, ...
'', released in 1982.
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...
of
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
also used the instrument on the group's 1967 albums ''
Between the Buttons
''Between the Buttons'' is the fifth British and seventh American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 20 January 1967 in the UK and on 11 February in the US as the follow-up to ''Aftermath''. It reflected the St ...
'' and ''
Their Satanic Majesties Request
''Their Satanic Majesties Request'' is the 6th British and 8th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in December 1967 by Decca Records in the UK and by London Records in the US. It is their first to be relea ...
''.
Tesla guitarist
Frank Hannon
Tesla is an American rock band from Sacramento, California. In late 1981, bassist Brian Wheat and guitarist Frank Hannon formed a band named City Kidd, which evolved into Tesla. By 1984, vocalist Jeff Keith, guitarist Tommy Skeoch, and drummer ...
used a theremin in the band's song "Edison's Medicine" from the 1991 album ''
Psychotic Supper
''Psychotic Supper'' is the third studio album from the American hard rock band Tesla (band), Tesla, released in 1991. The album peaked at 13 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and was certified RIAA certification, platinum by Recording Industry Associati ...
''. Hannon is also seen using the instrument in the song's music video at the 2:40 mark.
The Lothars are a Boston-area band formed in early 1997 whose CDs have featured as many as four theremins played at once – a first for pop music.
Although credited with a "Thereman" on the track "Mysterons" from the album ''Dummy'',
Portishead actually used a
monophonic synthesizer
Polyphony is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple independent melody lines simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic. Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophoni ...
to achieve theremin-like effects, as confirmed by
Adrian Utley
Adrian Francis Utley (born 27 April 1957) is an English musician and producer, and a member of the band Portishead.Jurek, ThomAdrian Utley Biography, Allmusic. Retrieved 31 December 2016
Career
Born in Northampton,Mejia, Paula (2015)In Search ...
, who is credited as playing the instrument; on the songs "Half Day Closing", "Humming", "The Rip", and "Machine Gun" he has actually used a custom made theremin.
Page McConnell
Page Samuel McConnell (born May 17, 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American multi-instrumentalist most noted for his work as the keyboardist and a songwriter for the band Phish.
In addition to having been a member of Phish since 1985, ...
, keyboardist of the American rock band
Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...
, plays the theremin on rare occasions. His last notable performance was on 6 August 2017, the final evening of the band's 13-night residency at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
.
When
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...
performed their song "
The Boxer
"The Boxer" is a song written by Paul Simon and recorded by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fifth studio album, '' Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970). Produced by the duo and Roy Halee, it was released as a standalone sing ...
" during a concert at Madison Square Garden in December, 2003, they utilized a theremin. The original recording of the song had featured a steel guitar and a piccolo trumpet in unison in the solo interlude, but for this performance, thereminist Rob Schwimmer played the solo.
Film music
Russian composer
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
was one of the first to incorporate parts for the theremin in
orchestral pieces, including a use in his
score for the film ''
Odna
''Alone'' (russian: Одна, Odna, meaning "''Alone''") is a Soviet film released in 1931. It was written and directed by Leonid Trauberg and Grigori Kozintsev. It was originally planned as a silent film, but it was eventually released with a ...
'' (russian:
Одна — 1931,
Leonid Trauberg
Leonid Zakharovich Trauberg (russian: Леонид Захарович Трауберг, 17 January 1902 – 14 November 1990) was a Ukrainian Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 17 films between 1924 and 1961 and was awarded the S ...
and
Grigori Kozintsev
Grigori Mikhailovich Kozintsev (russian: link=no, Григорий Михайлович Козинцев; 11 May 1973) was a Soviet theatre and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964. In 1965 ...
). While the theremin was not widely used in
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
performances, the instrument found great success in many motion pictures, notably, ''
Spellbound'', ''
The Red House'', ''
The Lost Weekend'' (all three of which were written by
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...
, the composer who pioneered the use of the instrument in Hollywood scores), ''
The Spiral Staircase'', ''
Rocketship X-M
''Rocketship X-M'' (a.k.a. ''Expedition Moon'' and originally ''Rocketship Expedition Moon'') is a 1950 American black-and-white science fiction film from Robert L. Lippert, Lippert Pictures, the first outer space adventure of the post-World War ...
'', ''
The Day the Earth Stood Still
''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (a.k.a. ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'') is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Renn ...
'', ''
The Thing from Another World
''The Thing from Another World'', sometimes referred to as just ''The Thing'', is a 1951 American black-and-white science fiction-horror film, directed by Christian Nyby, produced by Edward Lasker for Howard Hawks' Winchester Pictures Corporati ...
'', ''
Castle In the Air'', and ''
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
''. The theremin is played and identified as such in the
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
movie ''
The Delicate Delinquent
''The Delicate Delinquent'' is an American VistaVision comedy film starring Jerry Lewis, released on June 6, 1957 by Paramount Pictures. It was the first film to star Lewis without his longtime partner Dean Martin and marked Lewis' debut as a pro ...
''. The theremin is prominent in the score for the 1956 short film ''
A Short Vision'', which was aired on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'' the same year that it was used by the Hungarian composer
Mátyás Seiber
Mátyás György Seiber (; 4 May 190524 September 1960) was a Hungarian-born British composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onwards. His work linked many diverse musical influences, from the Hungarian tradition of Bartó ...
. More recent appearances in film scores include ''
Monster House'', ''
Ed Wood
Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker,
actor, and pulp novel author.
In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...
'' and ''
The Machinist
''The Machinist'' is a 2004 psychological thriller film directed by Brad Anderson and written by Scott Kosar. It stars Christian Bale as the title character, a machinist struggling with guilt, paranoia, and delusion after being unable to sleep ...
'' (both featuring
Lydia Kavina
Lydia Evgenevna Kavina (; born 8 September 1967) is a Russian-British theremin player, based in Oxfordshire, UK.
The granddaughter of Léon Theremin's first cousin, Soviet anthropologist and primatologisMikhail Nesturkh Kavina was born in Mosco ...
), as well as ''
First Man'' (2018).
A theremin was ''not'' used for the soundtrack of ''
Forbidden Planet
''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on an original film story ...
'', for which
Bebe and Louis Barron
Bebe Barron ( – ) and Louis Barron ( – ) were two American pioneers in the field of electronic music. They are credited with writing the first electronic music for magnetic tape composed in the United States, and the first entirely elec ...
built disposable oscillator circuits and a
ring modulator
In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple w ...
to create the electronic tonalities used in the film.
[Notes about film soundtrack and CD]
MovieGrooves-FP
/ref>
Los Angeles-based thereminist Charles Richard Lester is featured on the soundtrack of '' Monster House'' and has performed the US premiere of Gavriil Popov's 1932 score for ''Komsomol – Patron of Electrification'' with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...
and Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...
in 2007.
In Lenny Abrahamson's 2014 film, ''Frank
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Curre ...
'', Clara, the character played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, plays the theremin in a band named Soronprfbs.
Theatre and performing arts
Charlie Rosen, orchestrator of the Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
''Be More Chill
''Be More Chill'' is a teen novel written by American author Ned Vizzini and published on June 1, 2004. It follows unpopular high school student and social outcast Jeremy Heere, who is considered a loser by his peers. Deeply unsatisfied with his ...
'', credits the show as being the first on Broadway to have a theremin in its band.
Television
* In May 2007, the White Castle American hamburger restaurant chain introduced a television advertisement centered around a live theremin performance by musician Jon Bernhardt of the band ''The Lothars.'' It is the only known example of a theremin performance being the focus of an advertisement.
* Celia Sheen plays the theremin in the Midsomer Murders
''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of I ...
series.
* In October 2008, comedian, musician, and theremin enthusiast Bill Bailey
Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known professionally as Bill Bailey, is an English musician, comedian and actor. He is known for his role as Manny in the sitcom ''Black Books'' and his appearances on the panel shows ''Never Mind the ...
played a theremin during his performance of Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, which has subsequently been televised. He had previously also written an article, presented a radio show and incorporated the theremin in some of his televised comedy tours.
* Charlie Draper plays the theremin in the soundtrack (written by Natalie Holt
Natalie Ann Holt is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. She is primarily recognised for her work on several notable productions, including ''Paddington (film), Paddington'' (2014) and ''Loki (TV series), L ...
) for the Loki TV series on Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
.
* The title theme song for the 2022 ''Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' spinoff series ''Strange New Worlds'' uses a theremin when invoking the original series' iconic theme composed by Alexander Courage
Alexander Mair Courage Jr. (December 10, 1919May 15, 2008) familiarly known as "Sandy" Courage, was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film. He is best known as the composer of the theme musi ...
. However, that theme did not use a theremin, but a mixture of instruments with vocals by the studio soprano Loulie Jean Norman
Loulie Jean Norman (March 12, 1913 - August 2, 2005) was a coloratura soprano who worked with arranger Gordon Jenkins. Jenkins and Norman collaborated on a number of albums. Norman was also a member of The Rhythmaires and the Ray Conniff Singers.
...
to create an "unearthly" sound, sometimes mistakenly attributed to a theremin.
Video games
* A theremin tune serves as the theme for the Edison family in the NES port of ''Maniac Mansion
''Maniac Mansion'' is a 1987 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It follows teenage protagonist Dave Miller as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend Sandy Pantz from a mad scientist, whose mind has been ensla ...
''
* Lydia Kavina
Lydia Evgenevna Kavina (; born 8 September 1967) is a Russian-British theremin player, based in Oxfordshire, UK.
The granddaughter of Léon Theremin's first cousin, Soviet anthropologist and primatologisMikhail Nesturkh Kavina was born in Mosco ...
's solo theremin is featured on the soundtrack for the 2006 MMORPG
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.
As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
computer game ''Soul of the Ultimate Nation
''Soul of the Ultimate Nation'' (often abbreviated as ''S.U.N.'') was a fantasy-based MMORPG, massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) produced by Webzen, a Korean-based company. It was operated in South Korea by Webzen and in mainl ...
'', composed by Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' film trilogies. ...
.
First Theremin Concert for Extraterrestrials
''The First Theremin Concert for Extraterrestrials'' was the world's first musical METI broadcast dispatched from the Evpatoria deep-space communications complex in Crimea, and was sent seven years before NASA's Across the Universe message. Seven different melodies were transmitted from audio-cassette recordings of the theremin being played by Lydia Kavina, Yana Aksenova, and Anton Kerchenko, all from the Moscow Theremin Center. These seven melodies were:
# "Egress alone I to the Ride" by E. Shashina
# The finale of the ''9th Symphony'' by Beethoven
# ''The Four Seasons: Spring,'' "Allegro" by Vivaldi
# "The Swan" by Saint-Saens
# "Vocalise" by Rachmaninoff
# "Summertime" by Gershwin
# Russian folk song "Kalinka-Malinka"
They were played in succession six times over the span of three days from August–September 2001 during the transmission of Teen Age Message
The Teen Age Message (TAM) was a series of interstellar radio transmissions sent from the Yevpatoria Planetary Radar to six solar-type stars during August–September 2001. The structure of the TAM was suggested by Alexander Zaitsev, Chief Scie ...
, an interstellar radio message.
Similar instruments
* The Ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player o ...
, 1928, also uses the principle of heterodyning oscillators, but has a keyboard as well as a slide controller and is touched while playing.
* The Electronde
The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...
, invented in 1929 by Martin Taubman. It has an antenna
Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves
* Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...
for pitch control, a handheld switch for articulation and a foot pedal for volume control.
* The Syntheremin is an extension of the theremin.
* The Croix Sonore
The Croix Sonore is an early electronic musical instrument with continuous pitch, similar to the theremin. Like the theremin, the pitch of the tone is dependent on the nearness of the player's arm to an antenna; unlike the theremin, the antenna was ...
(Sonorous Cross), is based on the theremin. It was developed by Russian composer Nicolas Obouchov in France, after he saw Lev Theremin demonstrate the theremin in 1924.
* The terpsitone The terpsitone was an electronic musical instrument, invented by Léon Theremin, which consisted of a platform fitted with space-controlling antennae, through and around which a dancer would control the musical performance. By most accounts, the ins ...
, also invented by Theremin, consisted of a platform fitted with space-controlling antennas, through and around which a dancer would control the musical performance. By most accounts, the instrument was nearly impossible to control. Of the three instruments built, only the last one, made in 1978 for Lydia Kavina, survives today.
* The Z.Vex Effects
Z.Vex Effects is an effects pedal company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their name derives from the name of founder Zachary Vex
who is a respected innovator in the business, and by some described as a "mad scientist".
Products
The company's ...
Fuzz Probe, Wah Probe and Tremolo Probe, using a theremin to control said effects. The Fuzz Probe can be used as a theremin, as it can through feedback oscillation create tones of any pitch.
* The MC-505
The Roland Corporation, Roland MC-505 is a groovebox conceived in 1998 as a combination of a MIDI controller, a music sequencer, a drum machine, and a desktop synthesizer with many synthesis features: arpeggiator, oscillators, and voltage-controll ...
by Roland by being able to use the integrated D-Beam The D-Beam was originally manufactured by Interactive Light, as a stand-alone unit, around 1996. It was then soon purchased by Roland Corporation, becoming trademarked and rebranded as D-Beam Controller for their own music equipment.
Background
Aft ...
-sensor like a Theremin.
* The Audiocubes
The AudioCubes are a collection of wireless intelligent light emitting objects, capable of detecting each other's location and orientation, and user gestures, and were created by Bert Schiettecatte. They are an electronic musical instrument used ...
by Percussa are light emitting smart blocks that have four sensors on each side (optical theremin). The sensors measure the distance to your hands to control an effect or sound.
* A three radio theremin (Super Theremin, ) invented by Tomoya Yamamoto (), composed of three independent radio sets. Radio set #1 is to listen and to record the signal at around 1600kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...
. Radio set #2 is tuned at 1145kHz so that its local oscillator of around 1600kHz is to be received by radio set #1. Radio set #3 is also tuned at 1145kHz so that its local oscillator may produce the beat with radio set #2. Operator's hand movement around bar antenna of radio set #3 may affect the local oscillator to produce tonal change.
* The Matryomin by Masami Takeuchi, is a single-antenna Theremin-type device mounted inside a Matryoshka doll
Matryoshka dolls ( ; rus, матрёшка, p=mɐˈtrʲɵʂkə, a=Ru-матрёшка.ogg), also known as stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside ano ...
(aka Russian Doll).
* The ''Chimaera'' is a digital offspring of theremin and touchless ribbon controller and based on distance sensing of permanent magnets. An array of linear Hall-effect sensors, each acting as an individual theremin in a changing magnetic field, responds to multiple moving neodymium magnets worn on fingers and forms a continuous interaction space in two dimensions.
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See also
* List of Russian inventions
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* Ring modulation
In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple w ...
References
Publications
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* Rockmore, Clara (1998). ''Method for Theremin''. Edited by David Miller & Jeffrey McFarland-Johnson. Made publicly available a
Clara Rockmore Method for Theremin
df
Film and video
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External links
Music From The Ether
ThereminWorld.com
Theremin Times
ThereminVox.com
TECI
Theremin Enthusiasts Club International
theremin Theremin Family
Theremin Argentina
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{{Authority control
Electronic musical instruments
Continuous pitch instruments
Inventions by Léon Theremin
Experimental musical instruments
Monophonic synthesizers
Musical instruments invented in the 1920s
1928 introductions
1928 in the Soviet Union
Soviet inventions
Russian inventions
Theremins