issue26

EMUSIC-L Digest                                      Volume 58, Issue 26

This issue's topics:
	
	Synth 001 - The Theremin (2 messages)

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Date:         Fri, 5 Nov 1993 18:30:18 GMT
From:         "Steven D. Bramson" 
Subject:      Synth 001

I saw a very good documentary on TV the other night which I thought
Emusic-L readers might find interesting, so I took some notes.

It was about Professor Leon Theremin (born 1896) who effectively invented
the first sythesizer (flames at the ready?) which he called the Theremin.
Picture a wooden box say 2ft by 1ft by 1ft.  On the player's right is a
vertical rod (like a portable radio aerial).  On the left in a horizontal
plane is a half loop or horse shoe with a kink in it.  To play, you just
wave your hands in the air.  The closer your hand gets to the vertical rod,
the higher the pitch.  The left hand controls volume, and to some extent
timbre.

Inside are two high frequency coils and an amplifier and speakers,
naturally constructed with valves.  The pitch you hear is the beat or
difference frequency between the oscillators. It has a 4 1/2 octave range.
The coils create a magnetic field around the aerials and the variable
capacitance that your moving hand creates, alters the frequency.  If you
jiggle your fingers, you get vibrato.  I didn't get a date for the machine
but I guess it was the late thirties.

The resulting sound has a haunting, eerie quality like a cross between a
cello, a voice and a musical saw.  It was used in a number of films:
Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, The Day The Earth Stood Still, It Came From
Outer Space and notably The Delicate Delinquent in which you see Gerry
Lewis play the instrument.  Brian Wilson used one in the Beach Boys' Good
Vibrations.

Carnegie Hall staged a concert with ten instruments.  The greatest player
of the instrument was (I can't read my own notes here Clara Rocker?) who
performed a concerto for Theemin and Orchestra conducted by Stokowsky.

Theremin, a sort of soviet Edison, was kidnapped from the USA and was
returned to Russia in 1945 where he invented amoung other things a bugging
device and was given a Stalin Award.  He served 7 years in a prison camp.
All trace of him was lost but the documentary showed a reunion with Clara
in the USA when Theremin was aged 94.

Robert Moog built a Theremin as a school student and went on to design,
build and sell further instruments.  He stated that Theremin was the single
most important influence in the history of Electronic music.


Unrelated - wasn't Theremin the green liquid that made the aligators grow
in Thunderbirds?


Steven D Bramson    Data Management Group   JET Joint Undertaking
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Date:         Sat, 6 Nov 1993 09:40:50 -0600
From:         Stephen David Beck 
Subject:      Re: Synth 001

Just to correct the record, the Theremin virtuoso was Clara Rockmore, and
Delos released a CD with recordings of her playing every "slow and lyrical"
composition ever written ;-).  It is worth getting a copy for historical
documentation (if you're into that), and besides, its a great way to end
a party.  Just say, "Wanna hear somethin' coooool?"  After 10 minutes of
Theremin stylings, even the heartiest soul will search for an exit :-).

With regard to the first "sythesizer,"  Thaddeus Cahill built his Tel-
harmonium in 1906, and Luigi Russolo was working on his "intonarumori" not
long after that.  Russolo's instruments were not synths per se, but were
clear early efforts towards sound generation using electrical and electro-
mechanical (and mechanical) means.

FYI, read Appleton & Perera, "The Development of Electro-Acoustic Music."
There is great chapter on early electronic music.

Stephen David Beck
EAMS - LSU

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