Leon Theremin

Leon Theremin lived from is the man responsible for creating a bond between music and electricity. He began creating electrical devices that that were under the basis of scientific and mathematical theory, for the purposes of psychological and physiological effects. He was interested in mechanical construction of music where music is created by electronic means, and when electronic technology was in only in it’s infancy. His ideas were so great, that he was able to create what people called performance art, where stages were built with lights that reacted to dancers’ movements.
With out an oscilloscope, he was able to use his ears when playing the Theremin, to generate aurally pleasing tones. Leon invented many things in his lifetime. He constructed an overhead motion sensor that would silently alert police if anyone set it off. The original idea started with the prevention of a thief attempting to lean over a cradle to steal a baby, which is quite interesting. Clara Rockmore didn’t like that the theremin was being looked at as a novelty and wanted it to be seen as more of a real musical instrument, much like how it emulates the timbre of a violin or cello when played correctly. One of his closest sisters died in the 1920s, changing Leon’s life. They worked closely in a group. Instead of spending time grieving the loss, he wanted to create an instrument that would revive her. Another thing that complicated his life was that he married a woman of a different race at a time when society did not approve of interracial marriage. People viewed Theremin as a very intelligent inventor, and didn’t think that his wife was of his caliber. A big life changing event occurred in 1938, when the Russians came and forcefully removed Theremin from his studio in Manhattan, and took him back to Russia. After this happened, there was question if Theremin was even still alive. Theremin was found again after Clara and her husband visited Russia. Ran into a man at the train station, who had said that he had lunch with him just the other day. The man arranged for them to meet Theremin in the subway. They found out he was in prison for 7 years in a lab, and forced to invent things for Soviet Intelligence: Worked in an ‘institution’ on electronics, then for an aviation company, then worked on the construction of streets. After work for the Soviet Union, his instruments were smashed with an axe and he was told by the conservatory administrator that electricity was for the electrical death sentence, and not for music. His inventions changed the course of Electronic music forever. Rock and roll was just getting started, synths were becoming experimental, and the civil rights movement and the media had a great effect on music and people’s creations. Theremin and Clara Rockmore eventually led to future artists like Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson, who used the theremin on the Beach Boys Good Vibrations album. Robert Moog was a significant inventor and follower of Theremin’s ideas, and liked to build electronic projects. His father subscribed a magazine for electronologists, and Moog eventually wrote an article for the magazine on how to build a theremin. Moog wanted an endorsement from Clara to play his synthesizer, but she stated she has a tremendous amount of respect and loyalty to Theremin, and declined. Moog trained his ears to the Theremin and tone speeds and amplitudes, and in turn it aided in the creation of the synthesizers he imagined. Slonimsky believed Theremin was the prophet of the future of music, and it seems that no one was coming close to the adventurous, bold take on the direction of music in the coming century like Theremin had been doing. At one time, Albert Einstein and his wife who was a violinist, came to Theremin. He didn’t have too good of an ear but tried playing the Theremin in appreciation and respect for an invention.
If I could see a part of Theremin’s life, I would want to see the creation of the Rhythmicon and the era of the live performances. I’d want to be there when Leon first thought of the idea and how he was going go do it. Before world war II, electronic music was bound by live performance. In hearing everyday noise, John Cage expressed that we want to organize this noise into a musical sense, rather than a sound effect. Paul Hindemith and Ernst Toch (1887-1964) began using the turntable as a musical instrument rather than a recording/performance mechanism. They created new music by slowing down the speed of already recorded music, and it created cool and weird sounds. Pierre Shaeffer (1910) and Pierre Henry (1927) were inspired by Hindemith, Toch, and Varese’s experimentation with turntable or gramophone music. They composed sounds of electronic signals, natural sounds, instrumental sounds, and sound recording tools and made a form of music called music concrete. This work led to more interest in electronic music and eventually electronic music studios.