The unique musical instrument “Thereminvox. Lev Theremin - theremin - theremin Learning to play the theremin

In Petrograd.

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    ✪ Thereminvox - music out of thin air. Lev Sergeevich Termen.

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History of creation

At first, the Theremin measuring device was a generator of electrical oscillations on a cathode lamp. The test gas was placed in a cavity between metal plates and became an element of the oscillatory circuit - a capacitor, influencing the frequency of electrical oscillations. In the process of working on increasing the sensitivity of the installation, the idea arose of combining two generators, one of which gave oscillations of a variable frequency, and the other - oscillations of a certain constant frequency. Signals from both generators were fed to a cathode relay; a signal with a difference frequency was formed at the output of the relay. The relative change in the difference frequency from the parameters of the test gas was much greater [ what?]. Moreover, if the difference frequency fell into the audio range, then the signal could be perceived by ear. The device turned out to be very sensitive: it reacted to the slightest changes in the capacity of the oscillating circuit, caused, for example, by a change in the position of a person's hand in space. As the capacity changed, the frequency of the sound changed. That is, the sound arose when a person's hand moved.

Choosing a melody was not a big deal for Termen, since he was fond of music from childhood. In November 1920, at a meeting of the circle of mechanics named after Professor Kirpichev, the physicist Theremin gave his first concert. The electronic musical instrument he invented was originally called etheroton (sound from the air, ether), was soon renamed in honor of the author and began to be called the theremin.

When creating the instrument (in addition to electrical sound generation) Theremin paid special attention to “the possibility of very fine control without any expenditure of mechanical energy required to press strings or keys. Performing music on an electric instrument should be performed, for example, by free movements of the fingers in the air, similar to conductor's gestures, at a distance from the instrument. "

In March 1922, Lev Sergeevich Termen and a member of the board of the People's Commissariat, Chairman of the Radio Council A. M. Nikolaev came to the Kremlin to see V. I. Lenin to demonstrate the instrument. After performing Scriabin's Etude, Saint-Saens's The Swan, and Glinka's Lark, theremin began to help Lenin play the theremin. However, it soon turned out that Lenin could play independently. Lenin completed the performance of Glinka's Lark without the help of the inventor. In addition, an alarm was demonstrated on a capacitive relay, the principle of which was similar to the principle of the theremin.

Having highly appreciated the prospects of the invention, Lenin wrote a note to the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs Lev Trotsky:

As a result, despite all the difficulties of that time, a decree was signed on the establishment of a pri, where the inventor continued his research.

Use in the performing arts

Playing the theremin consists in changing the distance between the musician's hands and the antennae of the instrument. In this case, the capacitance of the oscillatory circuit changes and, as a consequence, the frequency of the sound. The vertical straight antenna is responsible for changing the tone of the sound, and the horizontal horseshoe is responsible for changing the sound volume.

The instrument is intended for the performance of any (classical, pop, jazz) musical works in professional and amateur musical practice, as well as for creating various sound effects (birds singing, whistling, etc.), which can be used in scoring films, in theatrical performances, circus programs.

There are several varieties of theremin, differing in design. Both serial and piece models are produced.

Over time, various schools of playing the theremin developed.

Varieties of theremin

Classic theremin

The theremin is considered a classic, designed like the first theremins created by Leo Theremin himself. When playing such instruments, the sound is controlled as a result of the free movement of the performer's hands in an electromagnetic field near two metal antennas. The performer plays while standing. The change in pitch is achieved by bringing your hand closer to the right antenna; the volume is controlled by bringing the other hand closer to the left antenna.

Lev Theremin created several concert models of the theremin:

  • theremin for Clara Rockmore - one of the first students of Lev Theremin;
  • theremin for Lucy Rosen (English);
  • theremin for Natalia Theremin - the daughter of the inventor;
  • two theremins for museums: the Polytechnic (where the instrument is kept) and the Central Museum of Musical Culture, located in Moscow.

The classical theremin model has become widespread in different countries of the world. The most widespread variety of the classic theremin is considered to be the instrument of the American company "Moog", which started the production of theremins from the moment of its foundation - in 1954.

Theremin of the Kowalski system

Theremin of the Kowalski system is a theremin designed by Konstantin Ioilevich Kovalsky - the first performer and student of Lev Theremin. When playing such an instrument, the pitch is adjusted with the right hand, the left hand controls the general characteristics of the sound with a push-button paddle, and the volume is adjusted with a pedal. The performer plays while sitting.

The theremin of the Kovalsky system was not as widespread as the classical theremin, however, it continues to be used thanks to Kovalsky's students and colleagues - Lev Dmitrievich Korolev and Zoya Alexandrovna Dugina-Ranevskaya, who created their own school of playing the theremin in Moscow. The designer Lev Korolev (1930-2012) developed and improved the theremins of this system for many years: he created the instrument "tershumfon" (a kind of theremin, the sound of which is a narrow-band noise with a pronounced pitch), created an optical indicator of the current note of the theremin - a visualizer.

Performers - Olga Milanich, Pyotr Theremin (great-grandson of Lev Theremin, the inventor of the theremin).

Matremin

Matremin is a musical instrument created in Japan by Masami Takeuchi, the head of the theremin school. It is a theremin with automatic setting [ what?], hidden in the matryoshka case. When playing the instrument, the frequency of the sound changes as the hand moves away and approaches the nesting doll. Matremina performers gather in large ensembles - up to 270 people.

Virtual Theremin

Virtual theremin is a virtual analogue of the theremin in the form of a program for a smartphone or PDA equipped with a touch screen. The program draws a rectangular coordinate system on the screen with sound frequency on one axis and sound volume on the other; when you touch the screen with a stylus or a finger, the program determines the coordinates of the touch point, converts the coordinates into frequency and volume in accordance with the coordinate system displayed on the screen and reproduces the sound of a certain frequency and volume; so, for example, moving the stylus or finger horizontally across the screen may change the pitch, and moving vertically - the volume. For example, the SunVox program of the Russian programmer Alexander Zolotov implements a virtual theremin as an additional function for quickly checking filters and other frequency-dependent elements of the created instruments (it is convenient to set several, for example, five or eight, octaves on the screen; but this instrument cannot be used in the composition created by the program) ...

Learning to play the theremin

The only school in the post-Soviet and European space that teaches playing the theremin is called "Russian Theremin School" and operates in Moscow and St. Petersburg under the leadership of Peter Theremin (great-grandson of Lev Theremin, who created the first theremin).

Also, a theremin school exists in Japan and is led by Masami Takeuchi.

  • Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin tried to play the theremin.
  • For the first time, Lev Theremin's daughter Natalia Theremin used palm-width tuning of the theremin. Now this method is used by many thereminists all over the world. With this setting, an octave is located between the "closed" and "open" hand positions.
  • The American group Lothar and the Hand People were among the first in rock music to use the theremin as a leading instrument. (eng.)russian”, Which released in 1968-1969 two albums in the style of space psychedelia. Moreover, the word "Lothar" in the name of the group is a proper name, the name of the theremin, and the band's musicians positioned themselves as "the first group in the world whose frontman is not a musician, but a musical instrument."
  • Theremin is used in the songs of the "Picasso Children" rock band.
  • The group "Led Zeppelin" used the theremin, in particular, in the song "Whole Lotta Love".
  • In 2001, a theremin concert was performed as part of the interstellar radio message "Children's Message" to other civilizations under the METI program.
  • In October 2010, the first Russian-language theremin portal was opened -.
  • At the end of August 2011, the first music festival of modern theremin culture was held in Moscow, called "Thereminology".
  • The introductory video for the British television series Doctor Who is performed on the theremin.
  • The project has been operating in Moscow since October 2011. Every two weeks, there are free master classes and lectures dedicated to the Theremin and Lev Theremin.
  • In the novel Hannibal by Thomas Harris, the protagonist learns to play the theremin.
  • On the TV series The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper plays the theremin, including a snippet of the song “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”.
  • In Murders in Midsomer, a theremin melody is played during the credits.
  • In the film "Angels of the Revolution" the heroes play the theremin.
  • In the series “

The kit includes a set of radio components, from which you can assemble two devices: a simple musical electronic instrument "Thereminvox", the sound of which is controlled by approaching or moving a hand to the antenna and "Metal detector", which is obtained as a result of a slight change in the design scheme. First, let's assemble the Thereminvox: the circuit consists of two independent generators on K561LE9 microcircuits, each of which contains three logical elements “3OR-NOT”. The generator frequency is several hundred hertz. The frequency of the generator on DD2 (lower in the diagram) is set by the position of the variable resistor R2, the frequency of the generator on DD1 (upper) is fixed. Signals from the outputs of both generators (pin 10) are mixed through capacitors C4, C5 and fed to the input of the diode detector VD1, VD2 and then to the headphones. The human ear perceives sounds well in the frequency range 20 - 20,000 hertz, so the signals generated by the generators are not audible in the headphones. When the frequency of the second generator approaches the first by several kilohertz, the detector begins to select the audio range of the sum or difference frequency. The signal heard in the headphones is the beats of the frequencies of the generators (a high sound appears in the headphones, decreases in frequency to zero and rises again until it disappears). The frequency of the first generator is fixed, but it is affected by the capacity of the antenna connected to the generator input through the capacitor C1. The approach / removal of the hand to the antenna changes its capacity and, accordingly, by a small amount the frequency of the generator, which is reflected in the sound in the headphones. The optimal position of the variable resistor is selected by listening to the sound in headphones and simultaneously moving the palm to and from the antenna. A small alteration will turn the Theremin into a Metal Detector - the antenna, capacitors C1, C2 and resistor R1 are removed from the circuit. Instead of C1, a jumper is installed (pins 1,2,8 are connected with 6,11,12,13), and instead of R1, a coil L1 and a capacitor C8 are installed in parallel. Setting up the Metal Detector consists in choosing the position of the variable resistor R2 precisely those beats of frequencies
in which the approach and removal of a metal object to the search coil will maximally change the tone of the signal heard in the headphones. Ferrous and non-ferrous metals in the coil area sound different. The common (ground) wire is not used in the headphone jack and plug. phone capsules are connected in series to increase load resistance.

Observe the pinout when installing the microcircuits into the sockets and the polarity when connecting the battery
to the diagram. Violation of these rules will result in exit
out of order microcircuits!

Content of radio constructor 034:
1. Microcircuits K561LE10 (2 pcs.),
2. Sockets for microcircuits (2 pcs.),
3. Circuit board,
4. Detector diodes D9 (2 pcs.),
5. Capacitors:
C1 - 390 pF,
C2, C3 - 15 pF (2 pcs.),
С4, С5, С7, С8 - 1n (4 pcs.),
C6 - 47 MKF,
6. Variable resistor R2 - 10k,
7. Plastic handle for variable resistor,
8. Fixed resistors:
R1 - 27k (Cr / F / Op),
R3 - 22k (Cr / Cr / Op),
9. Headphones (headphones),
10. Headphone jack,
11. Coil for metal detector (50 turns),
12. Power battery 9V,
13. Battery connector (red - plus),
14. Antenna wire,
15. Installation wires,
16. Scheme and description.

New Year's holidays are getting closer and more and more small gadgets are appearing on the market, which could be a great New Year's gift. It is clear that the best gift can be a small but very unusual electronic musical instrument. Especially if it's compact and relatively inexpensive.

Electronic musical instrument "Thereminvox mini" is sold on the website

On the website of the online store ThinkGeek for only $ 39.99, you can purchase an unusual musical instrument in all respects - the theremin mini.

A few words for those who have not yet come across such musical instruments. Theremin is an electro-musical instrument that you don't even need to touch. All you need to make sound is plug in the instrument and place your hands next to its antennas. The tone and volume of the sound are controlled by the position of your hand relative to the antenna.

The gadget is rather interesting as a gift or a toy, because this model is much smaller than real tools. But if you love original gadgets, then you will love this theremin. How the tool works can be seen in the videos at http://onegadget.ru/og/23110#more-23110. Despite the unusualness of this device, as it turned out, it has a very long history. It's very IT-friendly!

What is a theremin?
Thereminvox (lat.theremin or thereminvox) is an electric musical instrument created in 1918 by the Russian inventor Lev Sergeevich Termen. Playing the theremin consists in changing the distance from his hands to the instrument's antennas by the musician, due to which the capacitance of the oscillatory circuit and, as a consequence, the frequency of the sound change. The vertical straight antenna is responsible for the tone of the sound, the horizontal horseshoe - for its volume. To play the theremin, it is necessary to have a well-developed ear for music: while playing, the musician does not touch the instrument and therefore can fix the position of his hands relative to it, only relying on his ear.

The instrument is intended for the performance of any (classical, pop, jazz) musical works in professional and amateur musical practice, as well as for creating various sound effects (birds singing, whistling, etc.), which can be used in sounding films, in theatrical performances, circus programs.

Lev Theremin himself believed that the most successful work to demonstrate the capabilities of the theremin was "Vocalise" by S. Rachmaninoff.

Lev Theremin

He is called the father of electronic music, a resident of Soviet intelligence in America, a millionaire and an ingenious inventor. His biography can first be divided into several parts, and then, based on the content of each of these parts, a separate adventure novel can be composed. Many books have been written about him, but little is known for certain. His name was Lev Theremin.

Termen Lev Sergeevich (1896-1993) - Russian inventor, physicist, musician.

Creator of the world's first electronic musical instrument, the theremin (1919); one of the first television vision systems (1925); the world's first rhythm machine rhythmikon (1932); security alarm systems, automatic doors and lighting; the first and most advanced listening devices, etc.

The biography of Lev Termen can be found or

There are several varieties of theremin, differing in design.

Currently, there are both serial and artisan theremins, and there are also schools of playing it.

The idea of \u200b\u200ba theremin was further developed in an instrument called terpsiton, where the frequency and amplitude of the sound are determined by changing the position of the performer's entire body.

Etherwave Theremin, assembled from parts by Robert Moog

Classic Scheme Instruments Classic Theremin
In the first, classical models, created by Leo Termen himself, sound control occurs as a result of the free movement of the performer's hands in an electromagnetic field near two metal antennas. The performer plays while standing. The pitch change is achieved by bringing your hand closer to the right antenna, while the volume is controlled by bringing your other hand closer to the left antenna.

It is this theremin model that has become the most widespread in the world. There are a number of companies that manufacture tools of this type.

The technique of playing this type of theremin was masterly mastered by one of the first students of Lev Theremin - the American Clara Rockmore and the daughter of Lev Theremin Natalya Theremin.

Theremin Etherwave
The Etherwave theremin, designed by Robert Moog, is the world's most popular theremin constructor. You can easily build your own Etherwave from a custom set of parts. This does not require any special knowledge of electronics. In addition, Moog Music supplies assembled Etherwave series instruments in various modifications.

The main board is assembled and configured at the factory. The kit also includes nickel-plated antennas, a wooden case and an external power supply.

Theremin Classic

Theremin Classic, developed by Andrey Smirnov, is built according to the classic theremin scheme. Thanks to the use of modern element base, the tool is distinguished by its low weight, high stability and linearity of the working range, reliability and endurance. The use of the original circuitry allowed, while remaining within the framework of the classical design, to solve the problem of staccato and fast dynamics. The effective working range of the instrument is 6 octaves. Smooth tone control.

Theremin "T-vox tour"
Theremin "T-vox tour" was developed by the husband of the Russian theremin singer Lydia Kavina, George Pavlov was released in a limited edition. The instrument features an original timbre, a range of 8 octaves.

Barbara Bukhgolts, Lydia Kavina, Olesya Rostovskaya play on "T-VOX".

Olesya Rostovskaya, famous theremin performer

In 2006, Russian performer Lydia Kavina and Berlin performer Barbara Buchholz jointly created the international project Touch! Don’t Touch !, within which four Russian and five German composers composed contemporary music for the theremin.

Alternative scheme of the Theremin Kowalski system
In the theremin system of Konstantin Kovalsky (the first performer and assistant Lev Theremin), the pitch is still controlled by the right hand, while the left hand controls the general characteristics of the sound using a button pad, the volume is controlled by the pedal. The performer plays while sitting.

Konstantin Kovalsky (1890–1976) himself masterly mastered the technique of playing this type of theremin.

This model was not as widespread as the classical theremin, nevertheless, the tradition continues thanks to K. Kovalsky's students and colleagues - L. Korolev and Z. V. Ranevskaya, who created their own school in Moscow.

Designer Lev Korolev (1930–2012) developed and improved the theremins of this system for many years. He also created an instrument - a kind of theremin - "Tershumfon", the sound of which was a narrow-band noise, with a pronounced pitch. L. Korolev created an optical indicator of the current note of the theremin - a visualizer.

The modern version of the theremin

Theremin virtual
There are also virtual analogs of theremin, in the form of applications that are found mainly on smartphones and PDAs equipped with touch screens. The program of the Russian programmer Alexander Zolotov SunVox has this function as an additional function for a quick check (it is convenient to set several, for example, five to eight octaves on the screen) filters and other frequency-dependent elements of the instruments being created. Unfortunately, you cannot use this tool in the composition created in SunVox. The virtual theremin is a kind of coordinate graph, moving the stylus or your finger on which you can extract sounds. Similar to using a real theremin, moving the screen horizontally changes the pitch, and moving vertically changes its volume.

However, using this mode on a PDA with a sufficiently high screen resolution (640 x 480), if the screen is split into 1 or 2 octaves, you can play and not only for fun. Practice shows that you can play vocal parts. Amplitude and frequency vibrato is used, which, by the way, gives expressiveness to the sound of a real theremin. It is convenient to enter two types of vibrato by making continuous movements with the stylus in a circle or ellipse.

Created in 1919 by Russian inventor Lev Sergeevich Termen.

Playing the theremin consists in changing the distance of the musician from his hands to the antennae of the instrument, due to which the capacitance of the oscillatory circuit changes, and, as a consequence, the frequency of the sound. The vertical straight antenna is responsible for the tone of the sound, the horizontal horseshoe - for its volume.

To play the theremin, it is necessary to have almost perfect hearing, since during the game the musician does not touch the instrument and, therefore, can fix the position of his hands relative to it, relying only on his own hearing.

Theremin is intended for the performance of any piece of music in professional and amateur music practice, as well as for creating various sound effects (birds singing, whistling, etc.), which can be used in scoring movies, in theatrical performances, circus programs.

Lev Theremin himself believed that the most successful piece to demonstrate the capabilities of the theremin was "Vocalise" by S. Rachmaninov.

There are several varieties of theremin, differing in design.

Currently, there are both serial and master theremins, and there are also schools of playing on it.

Classic theremin

In the first, classical models, created by Leo Termen himself, sound control occurs as a result of the free movement of the performer's hands in an electromagnetic field near two metal antennas. The performer plays while standing.

The pitch change is achieved by bringing your hand closer to the right antenna, while the volume is controlled by bringing your other hand closer to the left antenna.

The technique of playing this type of theremin was masterly mastered by one of the first students of Lev Theremin - American Clara Rockmore. It is this theremin model that has become the most widespread in the world. There are a number of companies that manufacture tools of this type. The world-recognized expert is the virtuoso performer Lydia Kavina (a relative of Lev Termen).

Lydia Kavina and Berlin performer Barbara Buchholz have jointly created the international project TOUCH! DON'T TOUCH !, within which four Russian and five German composers composed contemporary music for the theremin (Wergo, 2006).

Other types of theremin

Theremin CLASSIC

Theremin CLASSIC, developed by Andrey Smirnov, is built according to the classic theremin scheme. Due to the use of modern element base, the tool is characterized by low weight, high stability and linearity of the working range, reliability and endurance. The use of the original circuitry allowed, while remaining within the framework of the classical design, to solve the problem of staccato and fast dynamics. The effective working range of the instrument is 6 octaves. Smooth tone control.

Theremin Etherwave

The Etherwave theremin, designed by Robert Moog, is the world's most popular theremin constructor. You can easily build your own Etherwave from a custom set of parts. This does not require any special knowledge of electronics. In addition, Moog Music supplies assembled Etherwave series instruments in various modifications.

The main board is assembled and configured at the factory. The kit also includes nickel-plated antennas, a wooden case and an external power supply.

Theremin of the Kowalski system

In the theremin system of Konstantin Kovalsky (the first performer and assistant Lev Theremin), the pitch is still controlled by the right hand, while the left hand controls the general characteristics of the sound using a button pad, the volume is controlled by the pedal. The performer plays while sitting.

Konstantin Kovalsky himself masterly mastered the technique of playing this type of theremin.

This model was not as widespread as the classical theremin, however, the tradition continues thanks to the students and colleagues of K. Kovalsky - L. Korolev and Z. V. Ranevskaya, who created their own school in Moscow.

The designer Lev Korolev has been developing and improving the theremins of this system for many years. He also created an instrument-a kind of theremin - "Tershumfon", the sound of which was a narrow-band noise, with a pronounced pitch.

Video: Theremin on video + sound

Thanks to these videos, you can get acquainted with the instrument, watch a real game on it, listen to its sound, feel the specifics of the technique:

Sale of tools: where to buy / order?

The encyclopedia has no information yet on where you can buy or order this tool. You can change that!

Theremin is often called "the most fantastic musical instrument." Playing on it looks like real magic: the conductor walks up to a small desk, makes a couple of mysterious passes with his hands - and suddenly the air itself responds with drawn-out alien sounds. However, there is much more fiction in the stories that tell about this instrument and its creator.

Lev Termen is ranked among the Soviet avant-garde and pioneers of electronics, they say that he either worked as a spy or died in exile, and his instrument is called such a strange invention that even Theremin himself could not play it. These are just rumors - but the reality is no less interesting. The creator of the theremin turned out to be a witness of all epochs of the XX century, was familiar with celebrities from various countries, and at the same time he lived as if he did not notice the political storms of his century.

Russian paropunk

Lev Sergeevich Termen - a nobleman, a descendant of a Russified family of French and German aristocrats - was born in St. Petersburg on August 28, 1896. He received his gymnasium education and graduated from the Conservatory with a degree in cello, after which he entered the University of Physics and Mathematics. During the First World War, Theremin worked in Tsarskoe Selo as a military radio engineer - in those years, radio communication was an advanced development. After the war, Lev Sergeevich ended up in the laboratory of Abram Ioffe, where he began to study the electrical properties of gases. It was there, in 1919, that he created the first prototype of a new musical instrument, which journalists later dubbed the theremin (from the Latin vox - voice).

The laboratory where the theremin was born. Now it is the lecture hall of the Polytechnic Institute

I must say that this was still not the first electric instrument in history, but previous experiments were not widely accepted - mainly due to their bulkiness. However, the very method of sound extraction turned out to be completely new: the theremin could not be ranked either as a percussion instrument, or a string instrument, or a wind instrument. Its principle of operation is based on the fact that sound is the same vibrations of air that sometimes an electromagnetic field creates (therefore, wires and transformer booths are buzzing). Inside the theremin are two oscillators, the frequency difference between which becomes the frequency of the sound. When a person brings his hand to the antenna of the theremin, he changes the capacity of the surrounding field - and the note becomes higher. The alarm system with motion sensors, which was invented by ... it was Lev Theremin, in the same years, works exactly on the same principle.

From the inside, the theremin looks befitting - like a mysterious device of the early 20th century

The classic theremin (1938). The left antenna controls the volume, the right antenna controls the pitch

The main feature of the new instrument is the absence of borders between notes. In an electric field one could play a melody with the finest nuances - even an iridescent trill, even an Indian scale, in which there are twenty-two notes instead of the usual twelve. And all because Theremin was not only an engineer, but also a cellist and in physics he was most interested in acoustics. Of course, he learned to play his own instrument almost immediately - and behind the invention was not so much the idea of \u200b\u200bprogress as the dream of eliminating all obstacles between the musician and the melody. "The performer ... must control the sounds, but not extract them," Termen said. This is why the inventor soon got rid of the button and pedal, which in the first prototype turned the sound on and off. Theremin decided he needed more flexible control over the fabric of the melody and installed a second antenna to control the volume. It is in this form that the theremin has survived to this day.

Soviet poster of 1922

The instrument aroused keen interest in the circles of physicists, and in 1922 Theremin managed to get a meeting with Lenin. The politician believed that the theremin was a great way to promote electrification, so Lev Sergeevich received a mandate to travel on the railways of the entire country and went on a grand tour of the USSR. For a couple of years, the inventor visited several hundred cities with lectures and concerts, and in 1927 received an invitation to an exhibition in Germany. Among the overseas audience, the novelty made such a splash that Theremin was vying to invite to performances throughout Europe. Without thinking twice, the inventor went on a long foreign tour.

In the reviews of those years, two common features are visible. First, the listeners - in the best traditions of the Silver Age - came to mystical delight and admired the unprecedented freedom of the performer. Roerich called the new invention “the music of the heavenly spheres,” and Mandelstam said that the sound of the theremin is as natural as a growing flower. Secondly, Theremin's brainchild was perceived as an instrument for classical music: Shostakovich and Rachmaninov spoke flatteringly about him, and one of Lev Sergeevich's concerts took place in the Paris Opera. There was no question of aliens in those years.

American dieselpunk

The perception of the instrument probably began to change in the 1930s - after the theremin appeared in the United States. Having received a diploma in passing for a prototype of television, Theremin traveled to New York, where he settled for the next ten years. In the land of capitalists, the inventor woke up with an entrepreneurial streak: he founded the Teletouch company and quickly made a fortune on alarm systems and new radio technology. Theremin became a part of New York high society, rented a six-story house for a laboratory (Albert Einstein lived with him - being a physicist and violinist, he was also keenly interested in the theremin) and married a charming black woman. Isn't it the story of Tesla or Howard Hughes?

However, the role of an eccentric millionaire interested Termen much less than working on new inventions. Pretty soon, the public was presented with a theremin cello - an electric instrument with a neck and a lever, as well as an automatic "rhythmicon" - in fact, a prototype of a drum machine. Soon an even more daring experiment appeared - the terpsiton. According to the principle of operation, this musical platform was similar to the theremin, only the performer moved with his whole body, creating sound with the help of dance.

The theremin cello was created on the basis of the theremin

Other engineers also took inspiration from Theremin's invention and began developing similar tools. In 1928, the French cellist Maurice Martenot created a device called the Waves Martenot, in order to be played on which one had to drive the ring along a stretched string. In addition, the instrument came with a piano keyboard and buttons - a kind of hybrid of a theremin and synthesizer. The sound turned out to be so similar that many people are still confused - for example, they hear the theremin in The Beach Boys' song "Good Vibrations", which actually used Martenot waves.

However, the success of the first instrument could not be repeated neither by the followers, nor by Theremin himself. It seems that the key to the theremin's popularity was its laconic design; more exotic inventions have remained just curious pages in the history of music.

But the theremin was just beginning its march: in 1929, RCA bought a patent for serial production from the inventor. If until now there were only single models, now the pages of newspapers are full of advertisements: "Anyone can instantly learn to play the theremin!" By the way, the name of the instrument in America was simplified: they took the surname "Theremin", which abroad it was customary to write in the original French way (Theremin), and "vox" was discarded. Former violinist Clara Rockmore became the main "apostle" of the electric musical instrument in the USA, who not only learned the playing technique from the inventor, but also adopted his reverent attitude to the theremin. Until the end of her days, Klara played mainly classical music, and exclusively on concert instruments made by Lev Sergeevich himself - the sound of serial models seemed to her too awkward. Clara Rockmore is still considered by many thereminists to be the only virtuoso in the history of the instrument.

Lucy Rosen is another classic 30s performer who studied under Theremin

Concerts of Theremin himself became even larger: he gathered a whole theremin ensemble from ten of his students and successfully performed on the stage of Carnegie Hall, performing works by Bach, Grieg and Wagner. Each performance was accompanied by innovations: the engineer presented his new inventions to the public and experimented with color music.

Oddly enough, Theremin had no intention of staying in the United States. In 1938, after observing the alarming pre-war sentiments, the inventor loaded an entire ship with equipment and took his inventions home. For Americans, his departure was such a surprise that the millionaire was declared missing - and soon dead.

Perhaps the most famous theremin recording: Saint-Saens's Swan by Clara Rockmore

In fact, Lev Sergeevich was alive and well - only on his return another country was waiting for him. The boxes that no one needed remained in the customs warehouse, and the NKVD responded to requests for a laboratory with arrest. The Chekists, without thinking twice, contributed to the genre of science fiction and declared that Theremin was trying to kill Kirov with a beam from across the ocean. Lev Sergeevich was sentenced to eight years in the camps, but the cheerful inventor even in Kolyma took up innovation, so soon Termen was sent to a "sharashka" in Omsk - to work with Tupolev and Korolev on secret developments.

Space and horror

It is not surprising that the paths of Theremin and the instrument he created diverged for a long time. Back in the 1920s, after the departure of the inventor, the banner of the theremin in the USSR was picked up by his student Konstantin Kovalsky, also a former cellist. To make it easier to play, the musician even developed his own model of the instrument. The improvement consisted in the fact that Kowalski came up with ... a pedal and a button, which Theremin refused at the first opportunity. On his instrument with one antenna, Kovalsky gave several thousand concerts throughout the country, and since the 1950s he began to play with the "ensemble of electromusical instruments" Vyacheslav Meshcherin. Perhaps, thanks to Kovalsky and Meshcherin, the theremin began to be perceived in our country as an attribute of Soviet avant-garde pop music.

The Meshcherin ensemble largely determined the sound of the Soviet stage

The Theremin of the Kowalski System has become a frequent guest in Soviet cinema. Dmitry Shostakovich was the first to write soundtracks for him: probably the music for the film "Alone" (1931) became his debut. Compositions for the theremin can be heard in the paintings "Girlfriends" (1935), On the Seven Winds (1962) and "The Great Space Travel" (1975) , and in the comedy Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession (1973), the sound of this instrument was used as a sound effect accompanying the operation of a time machine.

"Dr. Hoffman", as he was called in the media (left) - it is thanks to him that the theremin sound is associated with flying saucers

I must say, Hollywood is also interested in technical innovation. It was here that the theremin turned into an otherworldly, alien voice. The fact is that the first American director to draw attention to the instrument was Alfred Hitchcock, who used the theremin in a thriller "Enchanted" (1945) ... Composer Miklos Rozha received an Oscar for this film, and the instrument is firmly established in the genres of horror and science fiction. The main Hollywood theremin player was Samuel Hoffman (former ... you guessed it, violinist again). His performance is easily distinguished by the deliberately trembling, nervous sound. Flying saucers theme from movie The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) is perhaps the most characteristic example of Hoffman's playing style. The Theremin has become such an integral part of that film era that it is often used to stylize old horror films: just remember the music from Burton's films "Ed Wood" (1994) and Mars Attacks (1996).

The film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" glorified the sound of the theremin among fans of science fiction

Meanwhile, the years of the Cold War came - and Lev Theremin once again kept pace with the era. In the "sharashka" the engineer created the first passive eavesdropping device: a tiny wire with a membrane, which, under electromagnetic radiation, turned into a microphone. Such a wire was inserted into a carved bas-relief, which the Soviet pioneers presented to the American consul "as a sign of friendship", after which the scouts happily sat down with notebooks right in front of the embassy.

Such H-shaped instruments Lev Sergeevich designed since the 50s

When eight years had elapsed, for some time Lev Sergeevich continued to work for the defense industry already as a free person, and the reason for his departure was ... again, fantastic. Theremin was keenly interested in space and from childhood was fond of astronomy, but he was rather indifferent to the literary genre "about aliens". When the servicemen decided to transfer him to the UFO department, Lev Sergeevich considered it a mockery and retired.

Theremin returned to music - this time he got a job at the Moscow Conservatory. There, studies of acoustics and overtones were just carried out: the professors tried to find out what constitutes a rich timbre, which distinguishes, for example, Stradivarius violins from factory models. Lev Sergeevich, on the other hand, began to investigate what character different performers impart to music: he recorded the movements of the pedals under the feet of prominent pianists. The inventor was still targeting the virtuosos of classical music, so he refined the sound of the theremin in consultation with Rachmaninov, Toscanini and Stokowski. Alas, the mentality of the Cold War also penetrated the conservatory: when the inventor inadvertently gave an interview to an American journalist (sensation: Theremin is alive!), He was not only kicked out, but also broke the accumulated theremins with terpsitons.

Lev Theremin himself still played romances instead of modern music

The era of robots

The shape of the antennas is dictated primarily by convenience, so homemade theremins had the most bizarre appearance

In the second half of the 20th century, the theremin moved further and further from the classics to the stage. With the release of his own model of this instrument in 1953, engineer Robert Moog, a pioneer of electronic music, began his career. Moog became famous for transforming synthesizers from expensive and exotic devices into instruments available to everyone - thanks to him, "keys" became an indispensable attribute of any musical group of the 1970s. The same thing happened with the theremin: Moog was selling DIY transistor kits, which became much cheaper and more widespread than RCA tube instruments. It must be said that history repeated itself on the other side of the ocean: back in 1928, a theremin diagram was published in the magazine "Radio to All", and since then countless Soviet radio amateurs have been enthusiastically soldering their own models.

But although it became nowhere easier to get the theremin, the art of playing it began to gradually be forgotten. The creators of mass models were well versed in electronics, but they did not always pay attention to acoustics - very few of them understood what timbre they wanted to achieve from the theremin. Perhaps this was also due to the fact that in the 1960s, thanks to the innovation of Pink Floyd, noises and extraneous sounds gradually gained their place in music along with melody. Be that as it may, in the 1970s, the theremin began to be used primarily for special effects: from an instrument with such a flexible sound, you can get the roar of a chainsaw, and howling a siren, and a cry of a seagull. For this, for example, theremin was needed Jimmy Page : The musician waved in front of the antenna with both hands, catching up with the disturbing atmosphere characteristic of Led Zeppelin. The Lothar and The Hand People group even claimed that the theremin named Lothar was their frontman, but they still played the solo on the electric guitar, and in most of the compositions Lothar remained silent, only occasionally emitting a mysterious howl.

In the music of the 1980s, synthesizers of all kinds of models and forms came to the fore. Against the background of instruments from which it was possible to extract the voice of any existing and nonexistent instrument, the theremin took an honorable museum place. Such luminaries of electronic music as Jean-Michel Jarre treated the ancestor with reverence, but usually used him only in those cases when it was necessary to achieve an uneven and "wobbly" sound. After all, it's easy to achieve a premeditated melody from a synthesizer - but how to translate a random wave of the hand into notes?

Termen's daughter Natalya Lvovna in those years worked on the creation of a concert theremin, which would work on transistors, not lamps. At the same time, even in the era of new technologies, the engineer did not at all believe that he had invented an electronic instrument. When the founder of the "ambient" genre keyboardist Brian Eno visited Moscow and proudly showed Theremin the latest synthesizer, old-fashioned Lev Sergeevich only smiled and politely nodded: "Very good."

Paradoxically, with all the honors that were given to the "father of electronic music", for several decades the musicians have already forgotten how the theremin sounded before the era of fantasy. When the ageless inventor finally resumed overseas travel in 1989, Western electronic music festivals seemed to have opened a window into the past. Perhaps it was Termen's performances with his daughter that convinced the Western public that the history of the “music of the air” had not yet been completed.

That in America, that in Russia Theremin dreamed of only one thing: not to be interfered with from work

Meanwhile, the era has once again changed and began to resolutely get rid of the remnants of the past. New Russia managed to destroy what the Soviet Union did not break: in the early 1990s, unknown people broke into Lev Termen's room and destroyed his last workshop. The modern theremin of a concert level has remained a prototype, and the previous models, due to lack of funds for repairs, gradually fell out of order. In 1993, the inventor died in Moscow at the age of 97.

Simultaneous game session

Japanese Masami Takeuchi has gracefully solved the eternal problem of playing several theremins at the same time. Usually the instruments on the stage start to catch each other's fields and get upset, and Takeuchi cleverly hid the antenna in a compact nesting doll and called his brainchild “Matryomin”. True, the antenna volume had to be sacrificed, so the matryomin makes sound continuously. Now Takeuchi leads a huge ensemble of 120 matryominists, and in total there are about 6,000 performers in Japan - however, usually they just study on matryoshka, and then move on to the classical theremin.


XXI century: legacy

Moog Etherwave model. Most performers now play such simple theremins

The quirky way of playing and the complex history of the theremin have led to the fact that in recent years this instrument has come to be perceived as an attribute of geek culture. Probably, such an image was finally fixed for him after Sheldon Cooper began to amuse himself with cosmic sounds in The Big Bang Theory. The tool is deceptively easy to learn, but the hundreds of aspiring performers' YouTube videos don't make a great impression. It is almost impossible to find a theremin teacher, and not everyone can develop their own playing technique. Most enthusiasts still have the joy of the air making sounds.

The legendary creators of synthesizers - Robert Moog, Dave Smith, Thomas Oberheim and others - in the company of Lev Theremin (Stanford, 1991)

Fortunately, in the age of the Internet, the scattered experiments of thereminists from different countries are gradually developing into a new surge of interest in the instrument. Last year, even Google was noted, having celebrated the birthday of Clara Rockmore - on March 9, Saint-Saens's "Swan" sounded on all monitors of the planet. A new generation of performing performers is gradually emerging who try to use the theremin as a melodic instrument. At the same time, in America, they are more often inspired by the Hoffman era, and in Europe, some lean towards the "classical school": for example, the Dutch are thinking about including the theremin into the conservatory program, and in Russia, the inventor's business is continued by his great-grandson Peter Theremin, who founded the "Theremin School" and an annual festival "Termenology". Most musicians agree that American, German, and Japanese theremins can sound pretty decent, although the bar for 1920s concert models has yet to be reached.

Thorvald Jorgensen is one of the modern thereminists who prefer the classical repertoire

* * *

Of course, nowadays technology allows playing in the air in dozens of different ways. The laser harp is quite popular - an instrument in which the musician blocks the rays of light with his hands. There are whole suits with sensors, like the terpsiton, that react to any movement. However, all such instruments raise the same question: when will the attraction become boring, what will be left of the music? It looks like the simple design of a century ago turned out to be the perfect combination of classic and modern. All that remains is to re-master the art of playing, which has almost been lost over a hundred years.

Theremin returns to the 21st century (played by Peter, the great-grandson of Lev Theremin)

In preparing the article, materials from the lecture of Peter Termen "From Lenin to Led Zeppelin" were used.