Theremin is called the most magical tool. Sounds during the game appear as if from the air. On the stage there is a small box-desk, near which the conductor makes passes with his hands. An invention is named for its creator, Leo Theremin.
The lingering sounds created by playing a mysterious instrument are like music from a different galaxy. Yes, and it is impossible to classify it to any groups because of a completely new way of extracting sound.
Birth of a novelty
Its creator, Lev Sergeyevich Termen, after graduating from the conservatoire in the cello and physical education classes at the university, worked in the Ioffe laboratory, where an amazing instrument called the "Theremin's voice" was born. In Latin, "vox" means "voice."
The first prototype was created in 1919. As planned by the inventor, two generators were placed inside a small desk. The sound frequency becomes the difference in the frequencies of the oscillations between them. When you bring your hands to the antennas responsible for the pitch and volume of the sounds, the capacity of the field surrounding them changes, the note rises.
The main feature of the novelty is the lack of borders between notes. You can play any tunes. The main task of the musician was to remove the obstacles between music and the performer. He believed that during the game it is necessary not to produce sounds, but to control them. To improve the volume, the inventor installed a second antenna.
Novelty interested physicists. Theremin visited many cities of the country, in 1927 he was invited to Germany to the exhibition. The tool became her sensation. A long tour in Europe has begun. The invention fascinated the famous composers, they perceived the novelty for the performance, first of all, of the classics. In America, terpsihon was added to the collection, sounds on it were created during the performance of movements of the whole body or dance.
Heyday of popularity
The students of Theremin became the famous violinist Clara Rockmore and Lucy Rosen. Soon, the inventor assembled an ensemble that performed with great success at Carnegie Hall. Each of their public appearances was accompanied by innovations and experiments with color music.
In 1929, the serial production of thereminvox began. In the twenties in the USSR after the musician left, his invention was slightly modified by Konstantin Kovalsky. He supplemented the fantastic novelty with a pedal. With the advent of the ensemble of musical instruments Vyacheslav Mescherinov in the fifties, theremin turned into a symbol of avant-garde Soviet pop music.
Soundtracks for the first time for a fantastic invention began to write Shostakovich. The debut was the music in the film "One" in 1931. The melodies sounded in many famous films and even in the famous comedy "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes the Profession", Theremin worked: he voiced the time machine.
Technical innovation interested Hollywood. In the dream factory, Theremin's invention turned into an alien voice. Alfred Hitchcock first took advantage of the new features in the film “Bewitched” in 1945. Ex-violinist Samuel Hoffman became the main performer of Hollywood. The sound of the instrument was glorified by the painting "The Day the Earth Stopped."
Since the second half of the twentieth century, theremin has noticeably moved away from the classics. Own model was proposed in 1953 by engineer Robert Mug. However, mass production has degraded sound quality. Since the seventies it has been used more often for special effects. He enjoyed popularity with both Pink Floyd and Ice Zeppelin.
